Election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on
24 September 1999 (32nd Sitting) (see Doc. 8460, report of the Committee
on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Lord Kirkhill). Text
adopted by the Assembly on 24 September 1999 (32nd Sitting).
- Thesaurus
1. The Assembly recalls that, for
the election of the judges to the new single Court of Human Rights,
the candidates were invited to interviews organised by a sub-committee
of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
2. The conclusions of the sub-committee were made available to
all members of the Assembly, prior to elections during one of its
part-sessions.
3. The Assembly is of the opinion that these interviews were
most helpful in order to obtain a better insight into the qualities
of the candidates and thus facilitate a better-informed choice.
4. The Assembly considers, therefore, that the system of holding
interviews should be continued, not only in the case of partial
renewals of the Court (which take place every three years and in
theory concern one half of the judges) but also for any election
organised in the case of, for instance, resignation or death of
one of the judges.
5. Consequently, it instructs the Committee on Legal Affairs
and Human Rights – through one of its sub-committees – to continue
organising interviews of all candidates standing for election to
the Court and to make its findings available to members of the Assembly.
6. For the first election to the Court, candidates were invited
to send in a curriculum vitae on the basis of a model adopted by
the Assembly in its Resolution 1082 (1996).
7. This model curriculum vitae proved to be very useful as it
contains a number of questions considered to be essential and facilitates
comparison between the candidates.
8. Following the experience of the first election of judges to
the new Court – and after informal consultation with the Committee
of Ministers – the Assembly considers that the practice of inviting
candidates to answer the questions in a model curriculum vitae is
to be continued, but that the model could be improved upon on a number
of points.
9. The Assembly adopts, therefore, the model curriculum vitae
which is reproduced below as an appendix to this resolution.
10. The Assembly, furthermore, calls on the Secretary General,
and all others involved in the process of selection and election,
to start the proceedings at least twelve months before the expiration
of the term of office of the sitting judge and to respect the indicative
time-table set out in Appendix II to this resolution.
11. The Assembly asks its President to bring this resolution to
the attention of the President of the European Court of Human Rights.
Appendix 1 – Model curriculum vitae for candidates seeking
election to the European Court of Human Rights
In order to ensure that the members of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have comparable information
at their disposal when electing judges to the European Court of
Human Rights, candidates are invited to submit a short curriculum
vitae on the following lines:
I. Personal details
Name, forename
Sex
Date and place of birth
Nationality/ies
II. Education and academic and other qualifications
…
III. Relevant professional activities
a. Judicial activities
b. Non-judicial legal activities
c. Non-legal professional activities
(Please underline the post(s) held at present)
IV. Activities and experience in the field
of human rights
…
V. Public activities
a. Public office
b. Elected posts
c. Posts held in a political party or movement
(Please underline the post(s) held at present)
VI. Other activities
a. Field
b. Duration
c. Functions
(Please underline your current activities)
VII. Publications and other works
(You may indicate the total number of books and articles published,
but mention only the most important titles (maximum 8))
VIII. Languages
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Language
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Reading
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Writing
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Speaking
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VG
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G
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F
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VG
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G
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F
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VG
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G
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F
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a. First language
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(Veuillez préciser)
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b. Official languages:
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- English
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- French
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c. Other languages:
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IX. Other relevant information
Please confirm that you will take up permanent residence in
Strasbourg if elected a judge on the Court.
Appendix 2 – Indicative time-table for the partial renewals
of the Court
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Time to be granted to
the governments of member states for the selection of their candidates
and their transmission to the Secretary General of the Council of
Europe
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4 months
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Time to be granted to
the Committee of Ministers for consideration of the candidates and
deliberation prior to transmission to the Assembly
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1½ months
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Time to be granted to
the Assembly for its election procedures
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2½ months (this time
may be longer depending upon the Assembly's part-sessions)
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Time to be granted to
the judge elected for terminating his/her previous employment and
settling in Strasbourg (this is important for newly-elected judges
but it may, of course, also be important for a sitting judge, who
was a candidate but was not re-elected and must therefore make preparations
for finding other employment and, possibly, removal to his home
country)
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4 months
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Total time needed for
the proceedings
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12 months
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