Extraterritorial obligations in the European human rights system

The conduct of state authorities may affect the human rights of individuals located outside their territory. In Europe the scope of extraterritorial obligations is closely tied to the jurisdiction clause in the European Convention on Human Rights. States will be internationally responsible for not only human rights violations attributed to them within their own territory, but also for actions and omissions perpetrated outside their own territory but within their jurisdiction. This chapter explores the criteria developed by the European Court of Human Rights and the former European Commission on Human Rights to establish the international responsibility of States in the framework of extraterritorial obligations in specific cases, and identifies the types of situations in which extraterritorial responsibility has been established