CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 28 septembre 2000

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .s598389F9 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center; font-size:12pt } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s85646119 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; font-size:12pt } .s23A41E03 { width:36pt; display:inline-block } .s598389FB { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center; font-size:14pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s33165EBA { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s6B505E72 { margin:0pt; padding-left:0pt } .s9793CA21 { margin-left:10.52pt; text-align:justify; padding-left:7.48pt; font-family:serif; font-size:12pt } .sEDC5336B { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .sCB27B9E { width:16.66pt; display:inline-block } .s9378202A { width:33.05pt; display:inline-block } .s6442AFE5 { width:23.04pt; display:inline-block } .sCBC20640 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .sA1D3DA2E { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS                       651                     28.9.2000     Press release issued by the Registrar   European governments urged to increase support for Human Rights Court   Governments from across Europe have today been urged to do more to support the European Court of Human Rights, both financially and in terms of bringing their legal systems into line with the European Convention on Human Rights and the Court’s judgments.   Speaking at a press conference today, the Court’s President Luzius Wildhaber explained that, despite a marked increase in productivity (600 cases completed a month compared with 300 a month in 1999), the Court’s workload had continued to rise steadily. The projected annual increase in workload for 2000 is 22%, on top of the 40% increase in 1999 – a trend which is set to continue for the foreseeable future.   Mr Wildhaber therefore called on the 41 States which have ratified the Convention [1] to:   Ensure their national legislation conforms to the Convention Provide the Court with adequate financial and other resources Respect the Court’s judicial independence, particularly in respect of the election of judges Honour obligations to execute judgments in good faith Prepare, if necessary, a new and possibly radical reform of the Convention.   Mr Wildhaber said: “We have achieved a significant increase in the productivity of the Court and its Registry... There nevertheless remains a large disparity between the number of cases coming in and the number of those disposed of. You do not have to be a mathematician to appreciate that as long as this situation continues, the backlog will go on growing and that in the long term there is a risk that the system will be submerged.   “So much for the symptoms.   The solutions are perhaps not so easy to discern, except for one: it is quite plain that the Court needs more resources.   To be blunt, the Council of Europe’s member States, which aspired to create this Court, a Court unique in the history of international law, must now accept their responsibilities. We need more lawyers and, above all, more resources to make the most of information technology. In comparison with State budgets or even those of other international institutions, we do not need much, some 25 million francs (about 3 million dollars) for a total budget of 185 million francs (26   million dollars). That is not a huge amount for a Court that has the responsibility of   seeing to it that the fundamental rights of some 800 million Europeans are respected. I therefore make an appeal to the member States of the Council of Europe. We have in this institution a means of protecting human rights that has proved its worth.   It is an institution that is destined to play an important role in the new European order. It must not be allowed to wither away for sheer lack of resources.”   On 1 September 2000, the Court had a total of 15,107 registered applications pending, including 6,835 new applications registered between 1 January 2000 and 31 August 2000. It received an average of 170 phone calls and 720 letters a day.   Only a minority of registered applications result in a judgment on the merits of the case. Other applications are completed at an earlier stage, by being declared inadmissible or being otherwise struck out or as a result of a friendly settlement. Between 1 January 2000 and 1 September 2000 the Court delivered 417 judgments in all [2] , 3,949 applications were either struck out or declared inadmissible and 654 were declared admissible.   ***   Further information on the Court can be found on its Internet site: http://www.echr.coe.int   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: (0)3 88 41 24 92) Or:   Emma Hellyer (telephone: (0)3 90 21 42 15) Fax:   (0)3 88 41 27 91     [1] Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, TFYROMacedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.     [2] Of these, there were 193 judgments in which at least one violation was found: Italy (94), France (24), Turkey (12), United Kingdom (12), Portugal (8),   Greece (6), Poland (5), Austria (4), Czech Republic (4), Finland (3), Spain (3), Cyprus (2), Germany (2), Romania (2), San Marino (2), Belgium (1), Bulgaria (1), Denmark (1), Lithuania (1), Malta (1), Netherlands (1), Norway (1), Slovakia (1), Slovenia (1), Switzerland (1).