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2017 Annual Report of the European Court of Human Rights

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2017 Annual Report of the European Court of Human Rights ANNUAL REPORT European Court of Human Rights 2017 ANNUAL REPORT European Court of Human Rights 2017 English edition © Council of Europe – European Court of Human Rights, 2018 Anyone wishing to reproduce and/or translate all or part of this report in print, online or in any other format should contact [email protected] for further instructions When citing this report, please acknowledge the source “Annual Report 2017 of the European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe” This report is available to download at www.echr.coe.int (The Court/Annual Reports) For publication updates please follow the Court’s Twitter account at twitter.com/echrpublication © Photos: Council of Europe Layout and cover design: Publications Unit, ECHR Table of Contents FOREWORD 7 SPEECHES 11 Guido Raimondi 11 Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi 19 OVERVIEW OF THE COURT’S CASE-LAW 25 Jurisdiction and admissibility 28 “Core” rights 33 Procedural rights 52 Other rights and freedoms 75 Other Convention provisions 127 SUPERIOR COURTS NETWORK 139 BRINGING THE CONVENTION HOME 143 Dissemination of the Court’s case-law 144 Training of legal professionals 149 General outreach 150 Appendix 152 JUDICIAL ACTIVITIES 155 Grand Chamber 155 Sections 156 Single-judge formation 156 Composition of the Court 157 Composition of the Sections 159 The Plenary Court 162 STATISTICS 163 Events (2016-17) 163 Pending cases at 31 December 2017 (by respondent State) 164 Pending cases at 31 December 2017 (main respondent States) 165 Court’s workload by state of proceedings and application type at 31 December 2017 166 Violations by subject matter (2017) 167 Applications allocated to a judicial formation (2002-17) 168 Judgments (2002-17) 169 Allocated applications by State and by population (2014-17) 170 Violations by Article and by respondent State (2017) 172 Violations by Article and by respondent State (1959-2017) 174 THE YEAR IN PICTURES 177 Foreword he Court’s work in 2017 testifies to the fact that, more than ever, the subsidiary nature of the machinery of the European T Convention on Human Rights remains the key to the system’s success. The very large number of cases contributing to the Court’s excessive caseload, whether relating to detention conditions and prison overcrowding or to non-enforcement of judicial decisions, shows that it is primarily at domestic level that an effective remedy is required for human rights violations. Although the authorities of the countries concerned are adopting action plans and drawing up new legislation, this all takes time, and the Burmych and Others1 judgment delivered in 2017 is particularly important in this regard. It concerns the prolonged non-enforcement of final judicial decisions raising similar issues to those examined in the pilot judgment in Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov v. Ukraine2, which noted the existence of a structural problem. By dealing with individual cases, the Court was constantly attracting new applications and was not resolving the situation. It therefore decided to strike these cases out of its list and to transmit them to the Committee of Ministers in its capacity as the body responsible for overseeing redress and justice for all the victims affected by the systemic problem found in the pilot judgment, as part of the general measures for the execution of that judgment. In view of the fact that the interests of the existing or potential victims of the systemic problem in question were more appropriately protected in the execution process, the Court found that the aims of the Convention were not best served if it continued to deal with cases of this kind. Once the Court’s work is done, it is for the other protagonists in the system – the Committee of Ministers and the State concerned – to fulfil their obligations. This is therefore a good example of the collective enforcement established by the European Convention on Human Rights. The judgment is an illustration of shared responsibility and, by proceeding in this way, the Court has called upon the State concerned and the Committee of Ministers to assume their responsibilities. Since the 1. Burmych and Others v. Ukraine (striking out) [GC], 46852/13 et al., 12 October 2017. 2. Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov v. Ukraine, no. 40450/04, 15 October 2009. Annual Report 2017 Foreword Page 8 machinery of the European Convention on Human Rights is subsidiary in nature, this means that the problem must first be addressed at domestic level. What really lies at the heart of this judgment, and indeed many others, is subsidiarity. 2017 was also marked by a flood of applications directly linked to the measures taken following the attempted coup in Turkey. Most of these applications were lodged by individuals who had been taken into custody, in particular journalists and judges. Since the onset of this crisis, the Court has taken the view that the subsidiarity principle must be fully observed and that applicants must exhaust domestic remedies before bringing their application. As a result, more than 27,000 applications lodged in this context have been declared inadmissible for failure to exhaust domestic remedies, either because there had been no appeal to the Constitutional Court or because the remedy of a complaint to the ad hoc commission set up in January 2017 had not been attempted. This was not understood by everyone, but subsidiarity is the cornerstone of our system and requires domestic remedies to be exhausted. Such remedies must, however, be effective, one relevant factor being the length of the proceedings. Time will tell whether the remedy in question satisfies this criterion. The most significant challenge currently facing the Court is undoubtedly posed by the 26,000 outstanding Chamber cases, including approximately 6,000 non-repetitive priority cases. It is essential for the Court to be able to devote sufficient time to these cases, which are often the most important and complex ones. It is also worth noting that in 2017 there was increasingly frequent recourse to the Committee procedure, particularly for repetitive cases. Committees are able to deal with cases more quickly, on the basis of the Court’s well-established case-law. One major development in 2017 was indisputably the provision of reasons for single-judge decisions. Having been announced and postponed on a number of occasions, it featured among the requests made to the Court at the Brussels Conference. Although this has entailed a considerable workload for the Court, it meets an entirely legitimate expectation on the part of applicants, who should be in a position to understand the reasons why their application has been rejected. As regards the Court’s external relations, ties were strengthened in 2017 with the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, in particular through a visit from a substantial delegation of members of that court. The close and regular dialogue that has developed with the Luxembourg Court is extremely important. Annual Report 2017 Foreword Page 9 The network for the exchange of information on the case-law of the Convention has grown significantly during 2017, and now counts sixty- four Superior Courts from thirty-four countries among its members. These figures are certainly impressive and a reflection of the success of this initiative. In addition, a number of Superior Courts have visited the Court for bilateral meetings, highlighting our close relations. We have received delegations from the French Conseil d’État, the Belgian Conseil d’État, the Netherlands Supreme Court, the Swiss Federal Court and the Italian High Council of the Judiciary. Beyond Europe’s frontiers, I would also mention the visit of a delegation from the Brazilian Supreme Court. Other international courts with which we have had exchanges in 2017 include the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and, for the first time, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which sent a delegation to visit us in July. We can only welcome the fact that increasing numbers of international leaders are visiting the Court. This shows the importance they attach to our institution. In 2017 we received the Presidents of Romania, Cyprus and Greece and the Prime Ministers of the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro and Slovakia. By coming to the Court, these leading European political figures are expressing their commitment to it. The high point of this year was without a doubt the visit to the Court by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who gave a landmark speech here. In declaring that “Europe should take pride in having created a supranational body with responsibility for ensuring compliance with human rights” and that the Court was “an institution that we must bequeath intact to subsequent generations”, he gave strong backing to our institution. We can only agree with his conclusion that this is a relentless struggle. But with support of this kind, we feel ready to face up to it. No doubt because, as President Macron noted at the start of his speech, we, as judges of the Court, work passionately to serve 830 million Europeans belonging to the nations that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, and we are committed to this task. Guido Raimondi President of the European Court of Human Rights Chapter 1 Speeches GUIDO RAIMONDI President of the European Court of Human Rights, opening of the judicial year, 27 January 2017 residents of Constitutional Courts and Supreme Courts, President of the P Parliamentary Assembly, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank you, personally and on behalf of all of my colleagues, for honouring us with your presence at this solemn hearing to mark the opening of the judicial year of the European Court of Human Rights. Since we are still, for a few days yet, in the month of January, I shall follow tradition and wish you a happy and successful year in 2017.
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