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Doc. 9412
19 April 2002
Structures, procedures and means of the European Court of Human Rights
Recommendation 1535 (2001)
Reply from the Committee of Ministers
adopted at the 793rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (18 April 2002)
The Committee of Ministers entirely shares the Assembly’s assessment, as expressed in Recommendation 1535 (2001) of the importance of the European Court of Human Rights and of the difficulties with which it is faced.
It recalls that it was on that basis that, in February 2001, in the wake of the Rome European Ministerial Conference on Human Rights of November 2000, it decided to institute the Evaluation Group to examine possible means of guaranteeing the effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights.
Specifically with regard to the right of individual petition guaranteed under Article 34 of the European Convention of Human Rights, the Committee of Ministers draws attention to the fact that the above-mentioned Group carried its mandate inter alia on the basis of the following premises (cf. paragraph 41 of the report):
“a. There should be no reduction in the substantive rights guaranteed by the Convention and its Protocols.
b. The right of individual application, which lies at the heart of the Strasbourg machinery, must be preserved in its essence”.
Turning to the specific recommendations set out in paragraph 14 of the recommendation, the Committee of Ministers would like to make the following points:
Paragraph § 14.i and ii: Reaffirmation of the core role and vocation of the Court and political determination to guarantee its future effectiveness
The Assembly will be aware of the fact that the Committee of Ministers, at its 109th Session (November 2001), adopted on a proposal by the Liechtenstein Chair a Declaration “on the Protection of Human Rights in Europe – guaranteeing the long-term effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights”, the text of which is appended to this reply.
The Committee of Ministers draws attention in particular to paragraph 11 of the Declaration in which it “invites the Ministers’ Deputies to share information with the Parliamentary Assembly on the implementation of this declaration”. In this respect the Committee of Ministers recalls that in its reply to Recommendation 1477 on the execution of the judgments of the Court, it had proposed that there should be regular dialogue with the Parliamentary Assembly on the subject of execution. This dialogue could also provide an opportunity for exchange of information as provided by the abovementioned paragraph 11.
Paragraph § 14. iii, iv, and v: Follow-up including budgetary considerations and possible modification of the Convention
At their 773rd meeting (21 November 2001, item 4.6) the Ministers’ Deputies adopted decisions mandating the competent bodies to ensure the follow-up to the questions raised in the report of the Evaluation Group in accordance with paragraph 10 of the appended Declaration. This work is now going forward, the Deputies’ Rapporteur Group on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (GR-AB) having started its examination of the pertinent aspects of the report on 11 April 2002.
The Steering Committee on Human Rights (CDDH) is currently pursuing examination of measures to improve the national implementation of the Convention as well as proposals for reforming the convention’s protection system. An expert seminar is planned in September on the question of improving interaction between the Court and domestic courts. The CDDH has been instructed to present an interim activity report to the Committee of Ministers by 31 October 2002. The Committee will not fail to transmit this report to the Parliamentary Assembly.”
Appendix
DECLARATION ON THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN EUROPE – GUARANTEEING THE LONG-TERM EFFECTIVENESS OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers
at its 109th Session
Strasbourg, 8 November 2001)
The Committee of Ministers
1. reiterating its conviction that the European Convention on Human Rights must remain the essential reference point for the protection of human rights everywhere in Europe both in terms of rights guaranteed and of its judicial mechanism of control;
2. expressing the determination of the member States of the Council of Europe, in the interest of legal certainty and coherence, to guarantee the central role that the Convention and the Court must continue to play in the protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of 800 million people in Europe;
3. underlining that the effective protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Convention must be secured first and foremost by the States Parties;
4. preoccupied by the challenges faced by the Court on account of the increasing number of individual applications submitted to it;
5. determined that urgent and significant steps must be taken to ensure that the Court can deal with these cases within a reasonable time, whilst maintaining its judicial nature, the unique right of individual petition and the quality of its jurisprudence;
6. noting with satisfaction that the Court itself is implementing and studying measures to improve its internal procedures for example by establishing a new streaming of individual applications;
7. considering that the fulfilment of its own role of supervising the execution of the Court’s judgments is an essential factor in preserving the efficiency and credibility of the Convention mechanism;
8. wishing to give full effect to the Resolutions and the Declaration adopted by the Ministerial Conference held in Rome in November 2000 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Convention,
9. URGES all States Parties to ensure the existence of effective remedies at national level in respect of the exercise of the human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Convention and to take the necessary measures as appropriate;
10. WARMLY WELCOMES the Report of the Evaluation Group established to examine possible means of guaranteeing the continuing effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights and INSTRUCTS the Ministers’ Deputies to pursue urgent consideration of all the recommendations contained in the report concerning:
a. the follow-up to the Rome Ministerial Conference with particular regard to improved national implementation of the Convention, teaching of its case-law, human rights awareness and training, the availability of effective domestic remedies and responses to slow execution or non-execution of judgments;
b. the use of every means at their disposal to ensure the expeditious and effective execution of judgments of the Court, including those involving issues generating repetitive applications;
c. the human resources, budget and accommodation needs of the Court;
d. measures involving amendment of the Convention;
11. INVITES the Ministers’ Deputies to share information with the Parliamentary Assembly on the implementation of this declaration;
12. INSTRUCTS the Ministers’ Deputies to conduct, in consultation with the Court, regular reviews of the implementation of this declaration and to report back at its 111th Session, at the conclusion of the chairmanship of Luxembourg in November 2002.