The Provisional Edition (December 2010) of the online handbook The ECHR in 50 Questions is now available. The handbook, published by the European Court of Human Rights, answers 5 basic background questions about the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) before addressing 45 questions about the Court (also ECHR, though in the abbreviation used by the Strasbourg Consortium and others to avoid confusion, ECtHR). Some answers are better suited to scholars of and practitioners before the Court than to casual readers, but the publication is helpful for anyone concerned with such as

• “Who can bring a case to the Court?”
• “What are the conditions of admissibility?”
• “What is the difference between a Chamber and a Section?”
• “Do judges sit in cases concerning their own country?”
• “Can the Court’s composition vary from one case to another?”
• “When does a Grand Chamber hear a case?”
• “What are the different stages of proceedings before the Court?”
• “What is a pilot case?”
• “How are the Court’s judgments enforced”?

The Court has also produced and made available on its website several other helpful manuals and reports, including the following:

• The Court in Brief
• Country Fact Sheets 1959-2010
• The European Court of Human Rights in Facts and Figures 2010
• Text of the European Convention on Human Rights in the languages of participating states
• Tables of violations of the Convention, by Article and by Country
• Questions and Answers for Applicants (from the Registry of the Court, in 14 languages)