Human rights in Danish law

Denmark has signed and ratified a number of international human rights treaties. The Danish Institute for Human Rights is tasked with assisting in ensuring compliance with those treaties. To that end, the Institute monitors and analyses developments in the area. We do this, for example, by monitoring whether and how Denmark implements international treaties and EU legislation in practice.

We also monitor the rulings delivered by bodies such as the UN committee system and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR) on Denmark and other states where the ruling has implications for Denmark. The Institute is also mandated to advise the Danish Government and Parliament on how the human rights obligations can be embedded in legislation and practice.

As part of this work, we publish an annual status report. In this report we shed light on the principal human rights challenges in Denmark. We draft the report with reference to bills, rulings and judgments, statements and initiatives from national authorities. The object is to raise awareness of both positive and negative impacts on human rights in Denmark. Read more about this on our Danish website.

Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark

Grundloven, the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, was adopted on 5 June 1849 and has subsequently been amended three times – most recently in 1953. The Danish Constitution guarantees various human rights and related rights, primarily civil and political rights, such as:

  • Freedom of expression (Section 77)
  • Freedom of association (Section 78)
  • Freedom of assembly (Section 79)

The Constitution and the human rights it enshrines are accorded special status and are regarded as the supreme source of Danish law because they were adopted according to a special procedure (see Section 88 of the Constitutional Act). Thus, the rights guaranteed in the Constitution take precedence over other conflicting statute law or case law.

The European Convention on Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was ratified in Denmark on 3 September 1953, but was not implemented in Danish law until its incorporation on 29 April 1992. The Act came into force on 1 July 1992 and is the only human rights treaty incorporated in Danish law to date. Incorporation means that ECHR is a part of Danish law.

ECHR primarily guarantees a number of civil and political rights such as:

  • Article 5 – Right to liberty and security
  • Article 6 – Right to a fair trial
  • Article 9 – Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
  • Article 10 – Freedom of expression.

Economic, social and cultural rights, however, are provided for in the European Social Charter of 1961.