Structures, procedures and means of the European Court of Human Rights
Recommendation 1535
(2001)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate
on 26 September 2001 (28th Sitting) (see Doc. 9200, report of the Committee
on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mrs Nabholz-Haidegger).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 September 2001 (28th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
1. Once again, the Parliamentary Assembly
wishes to stress the tremendous importance of the European Convention
on Human Rights which has set up a unique system for the protection
of individual rights and freedoms currently applicable to most European
countries.
2. In accordance with Article 34 of the Convention, the European
Court of Human Rights “may receive applications from any person,
non-governmental organisation or group of individuals claiming to
be a victim of a violation (…) of the rights set forth in the Convention
or the protocols thereto”.
3. This right of individual application is the cornerstone of
the Convention and it is essential that the exercise and the implementation
of this right be facilitated in every way.
4. The main reason why a permanent Single Court was established
in 1998 was the ever-increasing number of individual applications
which the part-time system, in existence until then, had not been
able to cope with.
5. However, the number of individual applications has continued
to rise sharply and, as a consequence, the backlog of cases, instead
of diminishing, has continued to increase considerably.
6. Thus the number of individual applications rose from 4 044
in 1988 to 20 538 in 1999 and to 26 398 in 2000. In the first seven
months of 2001, 20 739 applications were received; if the same rate
were maintained for the rest of the year, the total number of applications
received in 2001 would be 35 553.
7. Unless immediate short- and long-term measures are taken,
and unless the Court is provided with the resources immediately
required, it, together with the Convention system, will face a situation
of crisis.
8. Making available sufficient staff and financial resources
will alleviate the alarming situation in the short term. Adaptation
of working methods and procedures within the Court will also have
an important contribution to make.
9. However, the development of the direct application of the
case-law of the Court by judges and courts in member states and
the incorporation of the Court’s case-law into the internal legislation
of the member states should contribute towards reducing considerably
the number of applications in Strasbourg.
10. 10. As long as there is an increase in applications there
cannot be any question of “zero growth” in the financial means made
available to the Court. Yet any growth in financial means must be
sustainable and it is clear that, if the number of applications
stabilises, there should also be budgetary stabilisation.
11. All this must also be considered in the light of current developments
in the European Union (EU), notably the proposals to revise the
EU treaties into an EU constitution which might possibly include
the protection of fundamental rights together with the Assembly’s
proposal for the accession of the EU to the European Convention
on Human Rights.
12. However, whatever measures are to be taken, they should in
no way hamper, hinder or restrict the free use of the right to individual
application and any “filtering” system may only take place at the
level of the Court according to its rules and under the full responsibility
of its judges.
13. The Assembly appreciates the energetic action already undertaken
by the Court itself and by the Committee of Ministers to respond
to the situation, notably the preliminary increase in staffing resources provided
in January 2001 and the decision to establish the Evaluation Group
on guaranteeing the future effectiveness of the Court of Human Rights.
14. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
i reaffirm the core role and vocation
of the European Convention on Human Rights, in relation to all national
and international legal systems in Europe, in maintaining a stable
and democratic society and upholding the rule of law and respect
for human rights together with the indispensable role of the European
Court of Human Rights as ultimate guardian of the Convention;
ii express the political determination of the Council of
Europe member states to guarantee the future effectiveness of this
unique instrument both by ensuring its financing and by ensuring
that decisions of the Court are properly implemented;
iii in the context of the follow-up to be given to the conclusions
of the Evaluation Group, which should be transmitted to members
of the Parliamentary Assembly as soon as they are distributed to
the Committee of Ministers, make available, as a matter of urgency,
the necessary staffing and other resources to guarantee the short-
and long-term effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights,
including the provision of the necessary additional offices in Strasbourg;
iv by treating the additional indispensable needs of the
Convention system, including the Court, separately from the criteria
applied by the Committee of Ministers in the adoption of the overall
Council of Europe budget, ensure that any future additional budgetary
resources required will be made available without infringing on
the budgets of other activities of the Council of Europe;
v launch preparations with all the interested parties for
the drafting of an amending protocol to the European Convention
on Human Rights with a view to ensuring the long-term effectiveness
of the European Court of Human Rights.
