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16 June 1995
Doc. 7330
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS
on the election of one member of the
European Court of Human rights in respect of
Latvia1
(Articles 38 to 40 of the Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms)
Letter from the Secretary General to the President
of the Assembly, dated 12 June 1995
Sir,
Latvia became a member of the Council of Europe on 10 February 1995. It is therefore necessary to proceed to the election of a judge of the Court in respect of this country.
Article 39, paragraph 1, of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms provides as follows: "The members of the Court shall be elected by the Assembly by a majority of the votes cast from a list of persons nominated by the Members of the Council of Europe; each Member shall nominate three candidates of whom two at least shall be its nationals." Paragraph 2 of the same Article provides that "as far as applicable the same procedure shall be followed to complete the Court in the event of the admission of new Members of the Council of Europe".
The Committee of Ministers kept in mind the relevant texts adopted by the Assembly (Resolution 655 and Recommendation 809) when examining the candidatures, but also took into account Article 5, paragraph 1, of Protocol No. 11 which states that "the terms of office of the judges ... shall expire at the date of entry into force of this Protocol".
The list of candidates drawn up by the Committee of Ministers at the 539th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies (June 1995) on the basis of nominations made by the Government of Latvia is as follows:
1. Mr Egils LEVITS
2. Mr Atis SJANĪTIS
3. Mr Gunārs KUSIŅŠ
The biographical notes of the candidates, who are all Latvian citizens, are appended to this letter.
It should be noted that "Members of the Court are elected for a period of nine years" (Article 40, paragraph 1, of the European Convention on Human Rights), but that in order "to ensure that, as far as possible one third of the membership of the Court shall be renewed every three years, the Assembly may decide, before proceeding to any subsequent election, that the term or terms of office of one or more members to be elected shall be for a period other than nine years but not more than twelve and not less than six years" (Article 40, paragraph 3 of the Convention). In order to maintain the balance between the different groups of mandates, the mandate of the judge to be elected would expire on 20 January 2004.
The Secretary General would once more like to take this opportunity to say how much he regrets that there are no women candidates on the lists submitted to the Assembly. In the same way as the Committee of Ministers has requested in its Recommendation No. R(81)6, he hopes that in the future it will be possible to ensure a more balanced representation between men and women in the Europe Court of Human rights, in the spirit of true and equal democracy.
The Secretary General has already drawn the Committee of Ministers' attention to this problem.
Please accept, Sir, the assurance of my high consideration.
Signed:
Peter Leuprecht
Deputy Secretary General
APPENDIX
CURRICULUM VITAE
Egils LEVITS
Date of birth: 30 June 1955
Place of birth: Riga, Latvia
I. Education
1962 - 1972 Primary and secondary education in Riga, Latvia
1975 - 1982 Studies in law, Faculty of Law, University of Hamburg, Germany
1980 - 1984 Studies in political science, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, University of Hamburg
Degrees: Assessor of Law, Diploma in political science
II. Professional experience
1984 - 1986 Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Kiel
1986 - 1989 Lawyer, Higher Court of Schleswig-Holstein
1989 - 1992 Lawyer and Research Fellow, Institute of German and East European studies, Göttingen
1991 - 1992 Adviser to the Latvian Parliament (international law)
1992 - 1993 Ambassador of Latvia to Germany and Switzerland
1993 - 1994 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, Latvia
since 1994 Ambassador of Latvia to Austria, Switzerland and Hungary
III. Other experience
1993 - 1994 Member of the Latvian Parliament, member of the Commission of Justice
1994 - 1995 Chairman of the Commission of the Latvian Government for the implementation of human rights (programme for the implementation of human rights accepted by the Government on 23 January 1995)
Author of numerous draft laws (law on the Constitutional Court, law on the administrative process and others)
IV. Scientific publications
Books: The political conflict between the Latvian self-determination movement and the Soviet Union (Marburg 1988), The Economy of the Baltic States (co-editor, Köln 1993). Several scientific articles on international, state and business law and problems of transition of the political and legal system in Latvia and other post-socialist states.
Atis SJANĪTIS
Date of birth: 12 October 1964
Place of birth: Liepāja, Latvia
I. Education
1982 - 1989 Degree in law, Faculty of Law, University of Latvia
(1983-1985 military service)
1992 - 1993 Studies in international relations, University of Vienna
II. Professional experience
1988 - 1990 Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Latvia
1992 - 1993 Director, Department of International Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Latvia
1993 - 1994 Under-Secretary of State for Legal and Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Latvia
Gunārs KUSIŅŠ
Date of birth: 14 May 1963
Place of birth: Riga, Latvia
I. Education
1989 PhD in law, Faculty of Law, University of Latvia
1991 Two-month study course at the Institute of Political Science, University of Oslo
II. Professional experience
1989 - 1993 Lecturer, Department of National and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Latvia
1990 - 1993 Advisor to the Legal Committee of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia
since 1993 Lecturer, Department of National Law, Faculty of Law, University of Latvia
since 1993 Director, Legal Committee of the Saeima (Parliament) of the Republic of Latvia
III. Scientific publications
1. Fundamentals of democracy, Riga 1993
2. Chapter on property rights in constitutional legislation in the Republic of Latvia in the book Property rights: Constitutional protection and public regulation, Oslo 1994
3. Round Table column - On Article 81 of the Constitution, The Latvian Jurist, nr. 2, 1994
1 1See Docs. 918, 1361, 1652, 1856, 1968, 2063, 2120, 2272, 2314, 2877, 3010, 3171, 3231, 3240, 3315, 3388, 3461, 3594, 3599, 3700, 3811, 3901, 3915, 3966, 4141, 4459, 4515, 4604, 4653, 4654, 4819, 4996, 5387, 5489, 5498, 5619, 5833, 5861, 5925, 5987, 6083, 6153, 6269, 6407, 6415, 6467, 6468, 6542, 6596, 6601, 6657, 6913, 7021, 7033, 7034, 7207 and 7258.