Member states' duty to co-operate with the European Court of Human Rights
"States should protect the right of individuals to apply to the Strasbourg Court"
In this Viewpoint the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, states that the right of individuals to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has to be protected. Governments must not try to hinder anyone from submitting a complaint and they must cooperate fully when the Court examines a case - relevant national documentation should willingly be provided.
Report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, 9 February 2007
All states parties to the European Convention on Human Rights have undertaken not to hinder the effective exercise of the right of individual application (Article 34). In this report the Committee expresses its concern that instances of alleged killing, disappearance, beating or threatening of applicants to the European Court have not been fully and effectively investigated by the relevant authorities. It also criticises pressure applied by the authorities to lawyers and NGOs defending applicants before the Court and calls for the Court to take an assertive stand in counteracting this pressure.
The report appends a memorandum on ‘Threats to Applicants to the European Court of Human Rights in Cases from Chechnya’ submitted to PACE by EHRAC and Memorial in November 2006. It also appends the comments of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation in response to this Memorandum.
Addendum to the report, 1 October 2007
This Addendum constitutes a factual update to the Report of 9 February 2007 and as such details relevant new European Court judgments, developments in the cases presented in the original report and information on new cases of suspected pressure on or reprisals against applicants to the Court. EHRAC also provided information for the compilation of this document.
