This Issue Paper deals with the right to leave a country, including one’s own, guaranteed notably in Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention).
The right to leave a country, whether it is one’s country of citizenship or current presence, is a necessary prerequisite to the enjoyment of a number of other human rights, most notably the right to international protection from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The right to leave a country, whether it is one’s country of citizenship or current presence, is a necessary prerequisite to the enjoyment of a number of other human rights, most notably the right to international protection from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
States are entitled to place restrictions on the right to leave a country where these are justified in accordance with the Convention and as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights (the Court).
