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Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Menschenrechte
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights
ECHR CPT
The Council of Europe
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European Organisations and their Member States
OSCE 56 Belarus Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan T
urkmenistan Uzbekistan Holy
See USA Canada
COUNCIL OF EUROPE 47 Iceland, Norway Russian
Federation Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia Ukraine,
Moldova Turkey, Albania, Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro,
Macedonia, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Switzerland,
San Marino, Monaco
EU 27 Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom,
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Standard-setting in the Council of Europe

• Considerable standard-setting activity within the
  CoE (211 treaties)
• Human Rights Conventions
• - European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
• - (Revised) European Social Charter (ESC)
• - European Convention for the Prevention of
  Torture (ECPT)
• - European Framework Convention for the
  Protection of National Minorities
• and others
• Other Standard-Setting activities are carried out
  by the European Commissioner for Human Rights,
  European Commission against Racism and
  Intolerance (ECRI), different committees of the
  Parliamentary Assembly, Steering Committees of
  the Committee of Ministers etc.

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Bodies of the Council of Europe
Committee of Ministers
47 Parliamentary Assembly European Court
Secretary General 318 of Human Rights
Thorbjørn Jagland 47
(Norway) Congress of Local and Commissioner
for Director General of Regional
Authorities Human Rights Human Rights and
318 Legal Affairs Thomas
Hammerberg Philippe Boillat (Sweden) (Sw
itzerland)
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European Convention For The Protection Of Human
Rights And Fundamental Freedoms(ECHR)

• Opened for signature in Rome (ETS No. 5) 4
  November 1950
• Entry into force 3 September 1953
• 47 states parties
• 1954 establishment of the European Commission of
  Human Rights (up until October 1999, 11th
  Additional Protocol)
• 1959 establishment of the European Court of
  Human Rights
• 11 November 1998 entry into force of the 11th
  Additional Protocol establishment of a new
  single and permanent European Court of Human
  Rights

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Ratification of the ECHR
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Contents of the ECHR and the Additional Protocols

• ECHR 1950/53 ETS No. 5, 47 states parties
• Article 2 Right to life
• Article 3 Prohibition of torture and inhuman or
  degrading treatment
• Article 4 Prohibition of slavery and forced or
  compulsory labour
• Article 5 Right to liberty and security of person
• Article 6 Right to a fair and public trial within
  a reasonable time
• Article 7 Prohibition of retroactive criminal
  laws (nulla poena sine lege)
• Article 8 Right to respect for private and family
  life, home and correspondence
• Article 9 Freedom of thought, conscience and
  religion
• Article 10 Freedom of expression
• Article 11 Freedom of assembly and association
• Article 12 Right to marry and found a family
• Article 13 Right to an effective remedy
• Article 14 Accessory prohibition of discrimination

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Contents of the ECHR and the Additional Protocols

• 1st AP 1952/54 ETS No. 9, 45 states parties
• Article 1 Right to peaceful enjoyment of
  possessions
• Article 2 Right to education and free choice of
  education
• Article 3 Right to free elections by secret
  ballot
• 4th AP 1963/68 ETS No. 46, 43 states parties
• Article 1 Prohibition of detention for debt
• Article 2 Freedom of movement
• Article 3 Prohibition of expulsion of nationals
• Article 4 Prohibition of collective expulsion of
  aliens
• 6th AP 1983/85 ETS No. 114, 46 states parties
• Article 1 Abolition of the death penalty in times
  of peace

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Contents of the ECHR and the Additional Protocols

• 7th AP 1984/88 ETS No. 117, 42 states parties
• Article 1 Procedural safeguards relating to
  expulsion of aliens
• Article 2 Right of appeal in criminal matters
• Article 3 Compensation for miscarriage of justice
• Article 4 Right not to be tried (ne bis in idem)
  or punished twice
• Article 5 Equality between spouses
• 12th AP 2000/2005 ETS No. 177, 18 states parties
• Prohibition of discrimination
• 13th AP 2002/2003 ETS No. 187, 42 states parties
• Article 1 General abolition of the death penalty
  in all circumstances
• 14th AP 2004/2010 ETS No. 194, 47 states parties
• Amending the control system of the Convention

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Individual Complaints Procedure

• Conditions of Admissibility (article 35 ECHR)
• Exhaustion of domestic remedies
• Application lodged within six months after the
  final national decision
• No anonymous applications
• No application that is substantially the same as
  a matter that has already been examined by the
  Court or that has been submitted to a comparable
  international procedure
• No application that is incompatible with the
  provisions of the Convention, manifestly
  ill-founded or an abuse of the right of
  application
• The alleged violation must be to the applicants
  personal detriment (victim requirement, no actio
  popularis)
• The event must have occurred after the
  Conventions entry into force for the state
  concerned

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The European Court of Human Rights
Complaints Procedures until 1998
Inter-state complaint (mandatory)
Individual complaint (optional)
European Commission of Human Rights
admissible
Inadmissible Decision
Report
European Court of Human Rights Judgement
(optional)
Committee of Ministers Resolution (mandatory)
Committee of Ministers (supervising)
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The European Court of Human Rights

• 1 November 1998 entry into force of the 11th OP
  to the ECHR
• Restructuring of the Strasburg complaints
  procedure new single full-time European Court of
  Human Rights
• Aim of the reform simplifying the procedure (in
  view of the increase of the applications
  registered 1981 404, 1997 4750)
• - Shortening the length of proceedings
• - Strengthening the judicial character of the
  system
• - Abolishing the Committee of Ministers
  adjudicative role
• Dissolving the European Commission of Human
  Rights
• Removing optional clauses concerning individual
  complaints and the jurisdiction of the Court

Complaints Procedures Reform 1998
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The European Court of Human Rights
Procedure before the Court 11th AP to the ECHR
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The European Court of Human Rights
Procedure before the Court 14th AP to the ECHR
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Inter-State Complaints
States Date of Admissibility Decision of Commission Application No Final Decision
Greece v. United Kingdom I 2.6.1956 176/56 Friendly settlement CM Resolution (59) 12 of 20.4.1959
Greece v. United Kingdom II 12.10.1957 299/57 Friendly settlement CM Resolution (59) 32 of 14.12.1959
Austria v. Italy 11.1.1961 788/60 CM Resolution (63) DH 3 of 23.10.1963
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands v. Greece I 24.1.1968, 31.5.1968 3321/67 3323/67, 3344/67 CM Resolution DH (70) 1 of 15.4.1970 CM Resolution DH (74) 2 of 26.11.1974
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands v. Greece II 16.7.1970 4448/70 Struck from the register as proceedings were suspended due to concurring party applications, report of the Commission of 4.10.1976
Ireland v. United Kingdom 1.10.1972 5310/71 Court Judgment of 18.1.1978
Cyprus v. Turkey I 26.5.1975 6780/74 CM Resolution DH (79) 1 of 20.1.1979
Cyprus v. Turkey II 26.5.1975 6950/75 CM Resolution DH (79) 1 of 20.1.1979
Cyprus v. Turkey III 10.7.1978 8007/77 CM Resolution DH (92) 12 of 2.4.1992
France, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Nether-lands v. Turkey 6.12.1983 9940-9944/82 Friendly settlement Report of Commission of 7.12.1985
Cyprus v. Turkey IV 28.6.1996 25781/94 Court Judgment of 10.5.2001
Denmark v. Turkey 8.6.1999 34382/97 Friendly settlement Court Judgment of 5.4.2000 (struck out of the list)
Georgia v. Russia (I) 30.06.2009 13255/07
Georgia v. Russia (II) 38263/08
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Individual Complaints 19552009
Source CoE
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Individual Complaints 19552009
Source CoE
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Individual Complaints 19592009
Source CoE
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Source CoE
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Pending allocated cases
Source CoE
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Source CoE
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European Convention for the Prevention of Torture

• Emphasis on the prevention of torture through a
  system of preventive visits to places of
  detention
• The ECPT is based on the simple assumption that
  the greatest risk of being tortured is during
  detention, especially in the first few hours or
  days of having been arrested ... Therefore, if
  an independent body is given the competence to
  visit and inspect any given place of detention
  without prior warning, that visit in itself would
  have a preventive effect
• Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT),
  established in 1989, carries out periodic country
  visits and ad-hoc visits
• Competences of the CPT
• - access to all places of detention, and all
  detainees
• - access to all relevant information
• - unanounced visits and private interviews
• Publication of reports on country visits and
  standard-setting

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CPT Visits
Overall 296 visits
178 periodic visits 118 ad hoc visits ? 247 CPT
Reports published
Source CPT
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CPT Visits in 2010
25/11/2010 - 07/12/2010 Germany
18/10/2010 - 29/10/2010 Bulgaria
21/09/2010 - 01/10/2010 the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
05/09/2010 - 16/09/2010 Romania
07/09/2010 - 16/09/2010 Czech Republic
21/07/2010 - 27/07/2010 Moldova
20/06/2010 - 21/06/2010 United Kingdom
14/06/2010 - 18/06/2010 Lithuania
14/06/2010 - 18/06/2010 Italy
08/06/2010 - 15/06/2010 Serbia (Kosovo)
10/05/2010 - 21/05/2010 Albania
10/05/2010 - 21/05/2010 Armenia
13/04/2010 - 18/04/2010 Russian Federation
15/03/2010 - 26/03/2010 United Kingdom
05/02/2010 - 15/02/2010 Georgia
25/01/2010 - 05/02/2010 Ireland
26/01/2010 - 27/01/2010 Turkey