24/01/2012 Session
Strasbourg, 24.01.2012 – The European Court of Human Rights should be “subsidiary” to national authorities – governments, courts and parliaments – who must play the fundamental role in guaranteeing and protecting human rights across Europe, according to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
In a resolution unanimously adopted on the eve of a major address to the Assembly by British Prime Minister David Cameron on reform of the Court, the Assembly said priority should be given to difficulties encountered in states which do not appropriately implement Convention standards.
Presenting the report, Klaas de Vries (Netherlands, SOC) pointed out that 70 per cent of pending applications before the Court came from only six countries: Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Structural deficiencies in these countries were perpetuating the Court’s backlog, he said, and not enough was being done to remedy these deficiencies.
The Assembly also pointed out that national parliaments should play a key role in stemming the flood of applications submerging the Court by, for instance, carefully examining whether draft laws are compatible with Convention requirements and by ensuring that states promptly and fully comply with the Court’s judgments.