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18 June 1993
Doc. 6872
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS
Supplementary Reply to Recommendation 1194 (1992)
on the reform of the control mechanism of the
European Convention on Human Rights
(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 16 June 1993
at the 496th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)
The Committee of Ministers wishes to refer to its interim reply of 20 January 1993 to Assembly Recommendation 1194 (1992) on the reform of the control mechanism of the European Convention on Human Rights.
It would like to inform the Assembly that in the Final Communiqué of the 92nd Session of the Committee of Ministers held in Strasbourg on 14 May 1993, the Ministers "were pleased to note that there had been significant progress at the level of their Deputies in recent weeks on the preparation of a mandate.". The Ministers instructed their Deputies "to complete this work urgently in time for the meeting of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) starting on 7 June 1993, with a view to preparing a draft Protocol to amend the European Convention on Human Rights for submission to Heads of State and Government in Vienna in October 1993.".
The Committee of Ministers is pleased to be able to inform the Assembly that as early as 28 May 1993, during a Special Meeting, the Ministers' Deputies adopted a decision assigning ad hoc terms of reference to the CDDH. The text of the terms of reference reads as follows:
"The Committee of Ministers stresses the necessity of a reform of the supervisory mechanism of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, with the aim of improving efficiency and shortening the time taken for individual applications, at minimum cost.
For this reason the Committee of Ministers instructs the CDDH to prepare a draft amending Protocol to the Convention, restructuring the existing supervisory mechanism by replacing it with
- a Court which
- should consist of a number of judges equal to that of the members of the Council of Europe;
- should work in committees and chambers; and
- must be provided with
- an effective mechanism for the filtering of applications;
- an effective procedure to enable friendly settlements;
- an appropriate structure to ensure the quality and consistency of its case law and to enable a re-hearing in exceptional cases, for example those raising serious questions affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention; provision should be made for the presence of a national judge in any such re-hearing;
- the Committee of Ministers retaining its competence under Article 54, it being understood that its competence to deal with individual applications under the present Article 32 of the Convention is abolished.
The CDDH should also examine
- whether the right of individual petition should remain optional or not;
- the way in which inter-State applications should be dealt with;
- the role and functions of possible Advocates General.".
Furthermore, the terms of reference of the CDDH stipulate that the mandate be completed by "30 September 1993, with a view to submitting the draft Protocol to amend the European Convention on Human Rights to Heads of State and Government in Vienna on 8-9 October 1993.".
Lastly, the Ministers' Deputies agreed, at their June 1993 meeting, to resume consideration of this question as soon as the CDDH has reported back to them.
It goes without saying that the Committee of Ministers will not fail to duly inform the Assembly of any further development concerning the reform of the control system of the European Convention on Human Rights, the urgency of which the Ministers, at the 92nd Session of the Committee of Ministers, underlined again, given the irreductible growth of the workload of the European Court and Commission of Human Rights.