The European Court of

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UNIT 13 The European Court of Human Rights

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The Council of Europe

• the first and most widely based European
  political institution
• an international intergovernmental organization
• established on 5 May 1949 by 10 countries based
  in Strasbourg
• comprises 47 member states covers virtually
• the entire European continent (800 million
  people)
• Main bodies
• Committee of Ministers
• Parliamentary Assembly
• European Court of Human Rights
• Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
• The Commissioner for Human Rights
• The Conference on International NGOs

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The Council of Europe main goals

• Primary aim
• to create a common democratic and legal area
  throughout the whole of
• the continent, ensuring respect for its
  fundamental values
• Human Rights... Democracy... Rule of Law
• Main goals
• safeguarding human rights, democracy and the rule
  of law
• promoting social and economic rights
• combating racism, xenophobia and intolerance
• promoting cultural diversity in Europe
• finding common solutions to societys problems
• developing democratic citizenship through
  educational, youth, sport and heritage
  initiatives
• It is active in all areas affecting European
  society except defence.

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The European Convention on Human Rights ECHR

• Official name The Convention for the Protection
  of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
• an international treaty - leading international
  legal instrument safeguarding human rights
• signed on 4 November 1950 in Rome by members of
  the Council of Europe (15 countries)
• entered into force on 3 September 1953
• today - 47 state parties/contracting parties
  signatories to the convention
• the Convention and additional protocols oblige
  signatories to guarantee various civil and
  political freedoms

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The Convention SECURES in particular

• Right to life
• Right to liberty and security
• Right to a fair hearing/trial
• Right to respect for private and family life
• Freedom of expression
• Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
• Protection of property
• Right to marry

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The Convention PROHIBITS in particular

• torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or
  punishment
• slavery and forced labour,
• arbitrary and unlawful detention
• discrimination in the enjoyment of the rights and
  
• freedoms set out in the Convention

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Protocols to the Convention

• texts which add one or more rights to the
  original Convention or amend certain of its
  provisions
• protocols which add rights to the Convention are
  binding only on those States that have signed and
  ratified them (a State that has merely signed a
  protocol without ratifying it will not be bound
  by its provisions)
• to date - 14 additional protocols have been
  adopted

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ECHR- Application and Enforcement

• -the Convention is applicable at national level
• -it has been incorporated into the legislation of
  the States Parties
• Courts with the jurisdiction to enforce the
  Convention
• domestic courts
• the European Court of Human Rights

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The Convention evolves

• it evolves
• by means of the interpretation of its provisions
  by the European Court of Human Rights -through
  its case-law the Court has made the Convention a
  living instrument
• - when protocols add new rights (eg. Protocol
  No. 13 concerning the abolition of death penalty
  in all circumstances, or Protocol No. 12 on
  non-discrimination)

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The European Court of Human Rights
Establishment and Aim

• judicial organ of the Council of Europe
• set up under the Convention and its Protocols in
  1959
• AIM to ensure the observance of the engagements
  undertaken by the Parties
• - supervises implementation of the European
  Convention on Human Rights in member states
• - examines violations of the European Convention
  on Human Rights
• based in Strasbourg in the Human Rights Building
• JURISDICTION
• - to resolve all disputes concerning the
  interpretation and application of
• the Convention and the protocols

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Judges of the Court

• the number of judges on the Court equals the
  number of Contracting Parties (47 at present)
• elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the
  Council of Europe from lists of three candidates
  proposed by each State for a renewable term of 9
  years
• sit on the Court in their individual capacity -
  hear cases as individuals and do not represent
  their States - totally independent and impartial

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Judges - Terms of office and dismissal (Article
23)

• 1 The judges shall be elected for a period of
  nine years. They may not be re-elected.
• 2 The terms of office of judges shall expire when
  they reach the age of 70.
• 3 The judges shall hold office until replaced.
  They shall, however, continue to deal with such
  cases as they already have under consideration.
• 4 No judge may be dismissed from office unless
  the other judges decide.

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Judges to the Court

• Cases are heard by judges sitting in
• 1. Single-judge formation (rules on
  admissibility of individual applications)
• 2. Three-judge Committees (rule on
  admissibility declarations of inadmissibility by
  a unanimous vote)
• 3. Seven-judge Chambers (rule on the
  admissibility and merits of a case - by a
  majority vote)
• 4. The Grand Chamber of 17 judges (the President
  of the Court , the Vice-Presidents, the
  Presidents of the Chambers and other judges
  chosen in accordance with the rules of the Court)
• - hears cases referred to it either
• 1-after relinquishment by a Chamber or
• 2-when a request for referral has been
  accepted

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Relinquishment of jurisdiction to the Grand
Chamber

• Where a case pending before a Chamber raises a
  serious question affecting the interpretation of
  the Convention or the protocols thereto, or
• where the resolution of a question before the
  Chamber might have a result inconsistent with a
  judgment previously delivered by the Court,
• the Chamber may, at any time before it has
  rendered its judgment, relinquish jurisdiction in
  favour of the Grand Chamber, unless one of the
  parties to the case objects

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Applications

• two types of application
• individual applications (lodged by any person,
  group of individuals, company or NGO claiming to
  be the victim of a violation by one of the
  Contracting Parties of the rights set forth in
  the Convention or the protocols)
• inter-state applications (brought by one State
  against another any Contracting Party may refer
  to the Court any alleged breach of the provisions
  of the Convention and the protocols by another
  High Contracting Party)

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Procedure before the Court

• cases can be brought directly by individuals
  (assistance of a lawyer is not necessary at the
  start of the proceedings)
• it is sufficient to send the Court a duly
  completed application form with the requisite
  document
• the registration of an application by the Court
  is no guarantee that it will be admissible or
  successful on the merits
• easy access to the Court - no fees for
  proceedings before the Court
• the procedure is adversarial and public

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Procedure before the Court

• two main stages
• 1) ADMISSIBILITY STAGE (certain requirements must
  be met)
• 2) MERITS STAGE (examination of the complaints /
  actual violations of rights from the convention)
• - committee finding that an application is
  not admissible will declare the case inadmissible
• OR
• a Chamber will give notice of the case to the
  respondent Government for their observations
• written observations are submitted by both
  parties
• the Court decides if it is appropriate to hold a
  public hearing in the case
• the Chamber delivers a judgment that will become
  final only after the expiry of a three-month
  period (during which the applicant or Government
  may request the referral of the case to the Grand
  Chamber for fresh consideration)

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Admissibility criteria

• domestic remedies must be exhausted
• an applicants allegations must concern one or
  more of the rights defined in the Convention
• applications must be lodged within six months
  following the last judicial decision in the case
• the applicant must be, personally and directly, a
  victim of a violation of the Convention
• applications can only be lodged against one or
  more of the States Parties to the Convention (not
  against any third State or against an individual)
  

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Judgements

• judgments finding violations are binding on the
  States concerned and they are obliged to execute
  them the execution of decisions is controlled
  by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
  Europe
• inadmissibility decisions by Committees and
  Grand Chamber judgments are final and cannot be
  appealed against
• the parties have three months following the
  delivery of a Chamber judgment to request
  referral of the case to the Grand Chamber for
  fresh consideration

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The Languages of the Court

• official languages English and French
• applications drafted in one of the official
  languages of the Contracting States
• when application declared admissible- the
  procedure continues in the Courts official
  languages
• exceptionally President of the Grand Chamber may
  allow use of the language of application

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CROATIA and the Council of Europe

• - a member state of the Council of Europe since
  1996 (accession on 6 November 1996)
• - Committee of Ministers representative Vesna
  Pusic (Minister of Foreign and European Affairs)
• - Parliamentary Assembly - 5 representatives 5
  substitutes
• ratification of the European Convention on Human
  Rights on 5 November 1997
• judge to the European Court of Human Rights
  Ksenija Turkovic (professor at the Faculty of Law
  in Zagreb)

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Reading comprehension

• 1. Read the text on p. 60, 61 and do the
  following
• exercise
• Exercise 1, p. 62
• 2. Translate Article 6 from the European
  Convention on Human Rights into Croatian.

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Essential expressions

• to draft an application sastaviti zahtjev
• to lodge an application(with the Court)
  podnijeti zahtjev
• bring a case / an application podnijeti zahtjev
• to declare a case admissible/inadmissible
  proglasiti predmet osnovanim/neosnovanim
• Three-judge committee odbor od tri suca
• Seven-judge Chamber Vijece od sedam sudaca
• To execute a judgement provesti presudu
• merit of case osnovanost zahtjeva
• relinquishment ustupanje nadležnosti
• referral of the case podnošenje predmeta
  (Velikom vijecu)
• to refer a case podnositi/proslijediti predmet
• term of office mandat
• to apply / to be applicable primijeniti/primjenj
  iv, važeci

• to come/enter into force stupiti na snagu
• Member states of the Council of Europe zemlje
  clanice Vijece Europe
• state parties / contracting parties of a
  convention/a treaty / signatories to the
  convention zemlje potpisnice konvencije /
  medunarodnog ugovora
• to safeguard štititi, osigurati, jamciti
• to accede accession pristupiti, pridružiti se
  pristupanje, pridruživanje
• to ratify - ratification ratificirati -
  ratifikacija
• a complaint žalba
• to breach / violate / infringe a right a breach
  / violation / infringement kršiti krštenje
  prava
• to observe a right observance poštivati
  poštivanje prava

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Vocabulary practice - CollocationsWhat do we do
with RIGHTS?

• Sort the verbs according to their POSITIVE or
  NEGATIVE meaning?
• to protect to observe to violate to
  diminish to acquire to guarantee to abuse to
  grant to respect to restrict to ensure

-

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Vocabulary practice Word formation

• Turn the following verbs into nouns.
• VERB
  NOUN
• to accede
  accession
• to apply
• to admit
• to enforce
• to enter into force
• to expire
• to implement
• to observe
• to ratify
• to refer
• to violate

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Vocabulary practice Answer key

• VERB
  NOUN
• to accede
  accession
• to apply
  application
• to admit
  admission
• to enforce
  enforcement
• to enter into force
  entry into force
• to expire
  expiry
• to implement
  implementation
• to observe
  observance
• to ratify
  ratification
• to refer
  referral
• to violate
  violation

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Case analysis

• Rajak v. Croatia
• Read the judgement and discuss the following
  questions with your partner.
• What was Rajaks complaint about?
• What did the Court find concerning the conduct of
  the Croatian authorities?
• Which rights were violated?

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Translation

• Translate Protocol No. 13 to the Convention
• for the Protection of Human Rights and
  Fundamental Freedoms