Over the years the protection of human rights, both at the regional level in Europe and at other levels, has been marked by profound change. This is certainly true of the way in which fundamental rights, such as the right to a fair trial, are interpreted and applied by international and domestic courts. New issues such as minority rights and the protection of economic, social and cultural rights have emerged. At the same time, a number of institutional questions have arisen amongst which the possibility of responding to urgent human rights abuses, the need to reform the monitoring mechanism...