INTERIGHTS takes an active role in ongoing discussions and debates concerning reform of the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’). Drawing on its considerable experience of litigating cases before the Court, INTERIGHTS seeks to safeguard and develop the right to individual petition, while attempting to promote greater effectiveness and efficiency of the workings of the Court. INTERIGHTS has made substantial contributions to the process of adoption of Protocol 14, provided comments in response to the Wise Persons’ report and published a substantial report on the process of election of judges to the Court titled Judicial Independence: Law and Practice of Appointments to the European Court of Human Rights.
In the course of 2007 and early 2008, 21 of the 47 judges of the Court were considered for election. Building on its previous work regarding the process for the nomination and election of judges which culminated in the 2003 expert report, INTERIGHTS worked with local partners to review the most recent nomination and election processes. Represented by the Chair of our Board, Jeremy McBride, our observations on the process and recommendations for improvements were presented at a special hearing of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in early June 2008. The memorandum prepared for this occasion focused on the domestic part of the process for the nomination of the judges to the Court. While highlighting some examples of good practice, INTERIGHTS noted that the domestic processes in some States did not comply with the fundamental principles of transparency, fairness and consistency. Such shortcomings are detrimental for the credibility of the Court and are likely to negatively affect citizens trust and confidence in the primary institution for the protection of human rights in Europe.
Throughout 2008 and early 2009, INTERIGHTS, together with a number of other international NGOs, monitored the meetings of the Reflection Group (DH-S-GDR), a sub-body of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe charged with developing proposals for ensuring the long-term effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights. The group of NGOs presented their comments on the work of the reflection group during a half-day hearing held in March 2009. The comments included the NGOs’ views on the various proposals under discussion before the Reflection Group, including establishing a Statute for the Court, the use of the pilot judgment procedure and new procedures for filtering clearly inadmissible or repetitive applications. Many of these observations were reflected in the final Activity Report of the Reflection Group.
During the final part of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, INTERIGHTS, together with other partner organisations, played an active part in the process of preparation for the Ministerial Conference on the Future of the European Court of Human Rights, which took place in Interlaken, Switzerland on 18-19 February 2010. The meeting was concluded with the adoption of a joint Declaration setting out an action plan for the reform of the Court and a timetable for implementing the action plan. In the run-up to the conference the coalition of NGOs of which INTERIGHTS is part, provided comments on the successive drafts of the Declaration. In addition, a statement setting out the vision of civil society for the reform process was issued, which was subsequently endorsed by 156 organisations from 36 Council of Europe Member States.
Click here to see the joint NGO appeal statement (in English and in French) and the list of signatories.
Click here to see the joint Interlaken declaration.
INTERIGHTS is opposing the proposal to introduce fees for individuals who file an application to the European Court of Human Rights. To read more about this campaign click here.
For further information on INTERIGHTS’ work in this area contact Constantin Cojocariu, Lawyer, Europe Programme.
