WELCOME BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE, ON THE OCCASION

OF THE COMMEMORATION FOR THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

(STRASBOURG, WEDNESDAY 6 OCTOBER 2010, 3.00 P.M.)

President Costa,

Dear colleagues,

Today we commemorate a milestone in the recent history of our Continent, the beginning of a process which has had a tremendous impact on Europe and its citizens’ lives.

In Europe, there are certain things that some of us have in common, but there is one thing that we all share, from the Atlantic to the Urals, from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and that is the right to apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

President Costa, dear colleagues,

Let me recall in this Chamber, home to the Parliamentary Assembly, the role that our predecessors played in creating the European Convention of Human Rights.

During its very first session, in Summer 1949, the Assembly adopted Recommendation 38, calling on the Committee of Ministers to have a draft Convention drawn “as early as possible” to ensure the effective enjoyment of rights and fundamental freedoms. The Recommendation did not foresee just the Convention, but also a European Court.

I like that phrase, “as early as possible”: in 1949 there was no time to waste! And things did develop quickly. By the end of the following year, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was signed.

Sixty years later, we can be proud of the part we played in that process. This reminds us of our role. We Parliamentarians of the Assembly have a duty to put forward our ideas timely, formulate them in the most adequate way and reach a consensus that makes our proposal strong enough for our governments to accept.

Europe is not the same now as it was 60 years ago, and that is not just a consequence of the “natural” development of things. To this day the Convention – given shape and form during the debates in Strasbourg – remains a miracle of international legal co-operation, unique in the world.

If we have a continent-wide legal area of civil liberties, we owe it to the Convention and to the hard work of the European Court of Human Rights.

And of course the Court and the Parliamentary Assembly are still closely linked to one another. Let us just recall that the Assembly elects the judges, from a list presented by member states.

Today the Court is facing new – and not so new - challenges. On previous occasions I expressed very clearly my position on the situation of the Court and the possible ways of reforming it. Today I will reiterate that the Strasbourg Human Rights Convention system is jeopardized by the volume of new applications and the increasing backlog. The issue of late execution – or indeed non-execution – of Strasbourg Court judgments is also a matter of concern.

This situation is unacceptable. I believe that we parliamentarians also have a role to play in this respect. Both national parliaments and the Assembly could summon ministers to account at hearings for the lack of effective application of the Convention by the governments of member states.

On the other hand, the European Union’s forthcoming accession to the European Convention is very good news. This will guarantee a coherent, Europe-wide system of human rights protection and we should do all we can to speed up this accession in the months to come.

As it was the case 60 years ago and ever since, I can assure you, dear President Costa, that the Parliamentary Assembly will be by your side to ensure full support by European Parliamentarians to the unique system of human rights protection provided by the Court. You are the jewel in the crown of the Council of Europe which we do not want to lose.