Chapter 1 begins its historical reconstruction of the Convention in the immediate post-war period and focuses on the peculiar connection it establishes between human rights and the concept of Europe. It runs from 1945 to 1954, the moment the Convention became legally binding in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

First, the chapter shows the impact of non-governmental activists, in particular European Federalists, on how two distinct concepts, namely ‘Europe’ and ‘human rights’, became connected in a legal sense, instead of the more current moral or cultural meaning.

Second, it highlights how those involved in linking the concepts drew upon distinct conceptions of ‘Europeanness’. European human rights were distinctively not universal values. Instead, they were inspired by a very peculiar idea of what Europeanness entailed, and restrained by pervasive civilizational, colonial and racial considerations.

Third, the chapter shows how European human rights were drafted into law and how they were perceived by the Dutch government. It sheds light on what the government expected by signing up to the Convention in 1950 and makes clear how the ‘European’ character of these human rights fits with the notion that the Kingdom of the Netherlands was not solely a European country.