The European Court of Human Rights has consistently reiterated that positive obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights arise when state authorities know or ought to have known about the risk of harm. This article attempts to describe and assess the role of state knowledge in the framework of positive obligations, and to situate the Court’s approach to knowledge about risk within an intelligible framework of analysis. The main argument is that the assessment of state knowledge is imbued with normative considerations. The assessment of whether the state ‘ought to have known’ is intertwined with, first, concerns that positive obligations should not impose unreasonable burden on the state and, second, the establishment of causal links between state omissions and harm.

中文翻译：

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《欧洲人权公约》积极义务框架内的过错、知识和风险

欧洲人权法院一直重申，当国家当局知道时，就会产生《欧洲人权公约》规定的积极义务要么应该知道伤害的风险。本文试图描述和评估国家知识在积极义务框架中的作用，并将法院对风险知识的方法置于一个可理解的分析框架内。主要论点是，对国家知识的评估充满了规范性考虑。对国家是否“应该知道”的评估首先涉及积极义务不应给国家带来不合理的负担，其次是在国家不作为和损害之间建立因果关系。