16/11/2011 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 16.11.2011 - “The authority and effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights system is contingent on the political will and commitment of member states to provide the Council of Europe with appropriate financial means to implement its human rights mandate,” PACE rapporteur Marie-Louise Bemelmans-Videc (Netherlands, EPP/CD) said at a meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris today.
“The yearly cost of a judge at the European Court of Human Rights is higher than the annual contribution made by 15 member states. The total budget of the Court, €58.96 million in 2011, is far less than the budget of the EU Publications Office and less than a quarter of the budget of the Court of Justice of the EU, with a total of 1,230 completed and 2,284 pending cases in 2010, compared to 41,183 applications decided by the Strasbourg Court and 139,650 pending applications. The present situation is simply untenable, not to say suicidal,” she stressed.
In a draft recommendation, adopted unanimously today, the committee therefore calls on the Committee of Ministers to tackle the Council of Europe’s difficult financial predicament at the highest political level.
Recalling the alarming backlog of applications before the Court, the committee underlined that in order to guarantee the authority and long-term effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights, priority must be given to difficulties encountered in states which do not appropriately implement Convention standards. “Primary responsibility lies with domestic courts and authorities; the Strasbourg Court should play a secondary role. This is embodied in the principle of subsidiarity,” the rapporteur said.
In a draft resolution, also adopted unanimously today, the committee consequently underlines the need to enhance the authority of Convention rights, including the res interpretata authority of the Court’s case law, at national level, to improve the effectiveness of domestic remedies in states with major structural problems, and to ensure rapid and effective implementation of the judgments of the Court. National parliaments, the committee said, can play a key role in stemming the flood of applications submerging the Court by carefully examining whether (draft) legislation is compatible with Convention requirements, and by ensuring that states promptly and fully comply with the Court’s judgments. The committee finally reiterated its call for parliaments to establish appropriate internal structures to ensure rigorous and regular monitoring of states’ compliance with international human rights obligations.
The report will be on the agenda of the PACE plenary session in January 2012.