28/01/2025 Session
“The Court’s legitimacy in safeguarding the rule of law and promoting it beyond Europe depends on the effective implementation of its judgments in respect of which it needs the co-operation and support of the Council of Europe and its institutions. PACE has a powerful role and there is much you already do in that regard,” Marko Bošnjak, President of the European Court of Human Rights, said today.
Addressing the Assembly in the framework of a debate on ‘The need for a renewed rules-based international order’, Mr Bošnjak referred to the role of PACE as a “political engine” of the Organisation, and a political guardian of human rights and democracy. “You speak on behalf of 675 million Europeans, and through your dual role as members of PACE and national parliamentarians you have the precious possibility to inform, decide, influence and enlighten on the vital work of democracy, human rights and rule of law, both here in Strasbourg and at home in your national capitals,” he said.
Referring to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Mr Bošnjak said the Court has “consistently held that the Convention cannot be interpreted and applied without taking into account relevant rules and principles of international law. For instance, in last year’s landmark case of Ukraine v. Russia (concerning Crimea), the Court interpreted the Convention in light of international humanitarian law, finding the application of Russian law in Crimea unlawful under the Convention.” This, he added, “demonstrates the importance of the possibility to successfully litigate” even in a time of war, and “underscores the Court’s role of judicial arm of the Council of Europe as a peace project which is there not only to prevent war but to tame it”.
“I join your wish, Mr President, that this year the rule of law will prevail over the rule of force, which reflects the vision of our founders: to place international law above the power of arms, and to put the might of the law ahead of the ‘law’ of the mighty,” Mr Bošnjak concluded.