In December 2003 state union of Serbia and Montenegro ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights – ECHR) and its fourteen protocols. Following independence, in July 2006 Montenegro submitted a statement of succession to the Council of Europe in relation to all the conventions signed by the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. Montenegro became a member of the Council of Europe in 11 May 2007.
In the case Bijelić v. Montenegro and Serbia the European Court of Human Rights concluded that its jurisdiction in relation to Montenegro is valid as of 3 March 2004, when Montenegro, within the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, submitted instruments of ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights to the Council of Europe.
By the end of December 2011, the European Court of Human Rights issued a total of eight judgments in relation to Montenegro: