16/02/2026 Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
PACE’s General Rapporteur on European migration and asylum policies has recalled the foundational role of the European Convention on Human Rights during a visit to the Council of Europe by a cross-party group of British parliamentarians dealing with the question of migration.
Lord Michael German (United Kingdom, ALDE), welcoming the UK Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration to the Council of Europe on 5-6 February 2026, recalled that the Convention was “the bedrock of human rights protection” for Europe’s democracies, and that an independent Court was essential for its interpretation. “Its principles cannot be changed, as altering them would undermine the foundations of the rule of law and could lead to their collapse across our continent,” he said.
“The Convention is often portrayed as imposed from outside,” said Lord German. “Yet British lawyers played a key role in drafting it, drawing on British legal traditions. It is UK judges, in UK courts, who interpret and apply those rights, which are rooted firmly in the British system of justice. As a living document, it can be explained and interpreted to ensure it fits the societal changes we are seeing.”
The MPs and Peers were briefed on the Council of Europe’s work on migration and held an exchange of views on ongoing discussions relating to the case-law of the Strasbourg Court in the field of migration, as well as meeting the President of the European Court of Human Rights, the judge on the Court in respect of the United Kingdom, lawyers from the Court’s Registry, and officials and experts from a number of other Council of Europe bodies.
In May 2025 nine Council of Europe member states issued a joint open letter in which they called for a new conversation about how the Strasbourg Court interprets the Convention in migration-related cases. In response, the Council of Europe’s ministerial body adopted a set of conclusions in December 2025, and is due to adopt a political declaration on the question in May 2026.
Lord German called for “an evidence-based process, respectful of the independence of the Court and of the principle of non-refoulement, as regards migration”, and expressed the hope that factual information about the Court would help to counter “the damaging effect of the negative political discourse towards the Convention in the UK”.