HumanHuman rights rights

ISSN 1608-9618 informationinformation bulletin bulletin H/Inf (2002) 1 No. 54, July-October 2001

Bon voyage, human rights! Contents

Court and Directorate General Special feature of Human Rights Human rights: child’s play in Kosovo ...... 37 News of the Convention New signatures and ratifications of the Convention Signatures and ratifications of human and protocols, reservations and declarations, principal Court judgments, DH resolutions (Articles 32/46) . . 1 rights treaties Law and policy: intergovernmental co-operation in the human rights field Simplified chart of signatures and ratifications of Conferences, activities, publications ...... 20 European human rights treaties ...... 38 European Social Charter New signatures and ratifications, reservations and declarations, activities, publications ...... 22 Human rights activities of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture Council of Europe’s central organs and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment New signatures and ratifications, reservations and Committee of Ministers ...... 40 declarations, visits, publications ...... 24 Parliamentary Assembly ...... 46 Framework Convention for the Protection of Commissioner for Human Rights ...... 50 National Minorities New signatures and ratifications, reservations and declarations, new state reports received, recommen- In brief dations adopted by Committee of Ministers, other activities, publications ...... 28 ...... 52 Media New signatures and ratifications of the European Appendix Convention on Transfrontier Television, reservations and declarations, activities, publications ...... 30 European Committee for the Prevention of Torture European Commission against Racism and Intoler- and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ance (ECRI) (CPT) public statement on Chechnya ...... 53 Conferences, activities, publications ...... 32 Equality between women and men Human rights institutes Conferences, activities, publications ...... 34 Co-operation and human rights awareness The regular report on the activities of human rights Conferences, activities, publications ...... 36 institutes is published as a supplement to the Bulletin

Cover picture: “Human rights on board” Marking their achievement Lord Russell-Johnston, President of the Parliamentary Assembly, said: Directorate General of Human Rights’ staff member “The successful conclusion of this remarkable Denis Bribosia participated in the 2nd Trans-Atlantic Rowing initiative, coming little more than a week after Interna- Race between the Canary Islands and Barbados aboard a tional Human Rights Day, shows that each of us can two-man rowing boat named Embarquons les Droits de contribute, in whatever way we are able, to the promo- l’Homme, along with fellow rower Gregory Loret. tion of human rights beyond both frontiers and They set off from Tenerife on 7 October 2001 carrying oceans.” with them dozens of human rights messages written by A day-by-day account of their voyage and of their project schoolchildren. 74 days later they landed their messages in bringing together the worlds of sporting adventure and human Port Saint Charles after covering 5000 km of ocean. rights can be found at http://www.embarquonsdh.com

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe Human rights information bulletin, No. 54

1 July-31 October 2001

Published three times a year by: Directorate General of Human Rights, Council of Europe, F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex. This issue published January 2002. ISSN: 1608-9618 (print edi- tion) and 1608-7372 (electronic edition).

News of the Convention

A new ratification any act is only punishable if it was so by law before the offence was committed.

Protocol No. 7 and Ireland Protocol No. 1 and United Kingdom Ireland ratified Protocol No. 7 to the Convention for Declaration and reservation contained in a letter from the the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, dated 9 October on 3 August 2001. 2001, registered at the Secretariat General on 10 October 2001 – Or. Engl. In accordance with Article 4 of the Protocol, the New reservations and declarations Government of the United Kingdom declares that the Proto- col shall apply to the Isle of Man being a territory for whose international relations the Government of the United King- Convention and Germany dom is responsible, subject to the following reservation. In view of certain provisions of the Education Act Withdrawal of a reservation contained in a Note Verbale 2001 (of Tynwald) or, until the coming into operation of that from the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Act, the Isle of Man Education Act 1949, the principle Germany, dated 1 October 2001, registered at the Secretariat affirmed in the second sentence of Article 2 is accepted by General on 5 October 2001 – Or. Engl. the United Kingdom only so far as it is compatible with the The Federal Republic of Germany withdraws the provision of efficient instruction and training, and the following reservation contained in the instrument of ratifica- avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure in the Isle of tion deposited on 5 December 1952: Man. In conformity with Article 64 of the Convention For further information see the “Simplified chart of [Article 57 since the entry into force of Protocol No. 11], the signatures and ratifications of European human rights treaties”, German Federal Republic makes the reservation that it will p. 38, or the Treaty Office’s web site. only apply the provisions of Article 7 paragraph 2 of the Convention within the limits of Article 103 paragraph 2 of the Basic Law of the German Federal Republic. This provides that Internet site: http://conventions.coe.int/

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 1 Council of Europe European Court of Human Rights

Introduction (prohibition of discrimination), 1 of Protocol Federal Republic of Germany was not suffi- No. 1 (protection of property) cient to outweigh the vital public interests in regaining sovereignty and unifying Germany. Between 1 July and 31 October Accordingly, it estimated that there was Principal facts and complaints 2001, the Court dealt with 3868 (3982) no breach of the applicant’s right of access to cases: The applicant denounced the decisions a court. – 2959 (3038) applications of the German courts to declare inadmissible Regarding the fairness of the Federal declared inadmissible his claim for restitution of a painting, which Constitutional Court proceedings, it found had been owned by his father and confis- that the applicant had the benefit of – 78 applications struck off cated in 1946 while it was on Czechoslovak adversarial proceedings and was able to sub- – 155 (158) applications declared territory, under a Presidential Decree. When, mit the arguments he considered relevant, admissible in 1991, the Municipality of Cologne received and did not see indication of unfairness in – 343 (353) applications commu- the painting on loan from the Czech Repub- the manner in which the proceedings at issue nicated to governments lic, the applicant instituted court proceed- were conducted. ings in order to regain possession of it. The – 333 (355) judgments delivered German courts declared his application inad- – Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (Provisional figures) missible on the ground that they did not The difference between the first have jurisdiction. The decision was made Considering that the applicant as his fa- figure and the figure in parentheses is under the Convention on the Settlement of ther’s heir could not, for the purpose of this due to the fact that a judgment or Matters arising out of the War and the Occu- Article, be deemed to have retained a title to pation, signed in 1952 and amended in 1954. property nor a claim to restitution against decision may concern more than one The Federal Constitutional Court refused to the Federal Republic of Germany amounting application. entertain the applicant’s constitutional com- to a “legitimate expectation”, the Court con- Owing to the large number of plaint on the grounds, among other things, cluded that there had been no interference judgments delivered by the Court, only that the exclusion of jurisdiction did not with the applicant’s possessions. those delivered by the Grand Chamber amount to a violation of the right to prop- erty, as the Settlement Convention as a or chamber judgments presenting a – Article 14 whole served to settle matters dating back to particular importance with regard to a time before the entry into force of the Ger- As a consequence of the finding of non- the Court’s case-law or to the defend- man Basic Law. The Court also confirmed that violation of the protection of property, the ing state are presented. They are the provisions invoked by the German courts Court considered that this article did not ap- followed by a table which gives had not been set aside by the Treaty on the ply to the present case. Final Settlement with respect to Germany. succinct information about the judg- The painting was subsequently returned to ments having given rise to a press the Czech Republic. K. and T. v. Finland release. The list of the judgments The applicant alleged violations of his Judgment of 12 July 2001 adopted and these of the key decisions, right of accesss to court and to fair proceed- Alleged violations of: Articles 8 (right to together with the full text, can be ings and of his right to property, taken alone respect for family life) and 13 (right to an and together with the prohibition of dis- effective remedy) found on the Internet (http:// crimination. www.echr.coe.int). Principal facts and complaints Decision of the Court The application was brought by a The summaries have been prepared – Article 6 § 1 for the purposes of the present Bulletin mother and her cohabitant, Finnish nation- In the Court’s view, the exclusion of als. The applicant mother’s second and third and are not binding on the supervisory German jurisdiction under the 1952 Conven- children, a boy and a girl, were placed in pub- organs of the European Convention on tion is a consequence of the particular status lic care in June 1993 on account of her unsta- Human Rights. of this country under public international law ble mental health and long-standing family after the Second World War. It is only as a difficulties. The second child, who had been result of the 1954 Paris Agreements with re- voluntarily placed at the children’s home, gard to the Federal Republic of Germany and was placed in public care and the third child – Judgments of the the Treaty on the Final Settlement with re- of whom one applicant is the father – was, Grand Chamber spect to Germany of 1990 that the Federal the day she was born, without prior consulta- Republic obtained the authority of a sover- tion of the parents. The mother’s unsuper- eign State over its internal and external af- vised access to the children was prohibited. Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein fairs for a united Germany. Moreover, the in- In July 1993 the emergency care orders were v. Germany terpretation by the courts of the Settlement replaced by normal care orders and the re- Convention was not inconsistent with previ- striction on visiting was extended. In 1994 Judgment of 12 July 2001 ous German case-law nor erroneous or such the children were placed in a foster home Alleged violations of: Articles 6 § 1 (access to as to reach arbitrary conclusions. 120 km away from the applicants, and the ap- court and fairnesss of the proceedings), 14 The Court further concluded that the ap- plicants’ access to them was limited to one plicant’s interest in bringing litigation in the monthly visit. K. and T., who now have an-

2 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe other child, who is not in care, made various ties’ assessment of the necessity of access re- Malhous v. the Czech Republic unsuccessful appeals against their access re- strictions did not fall foul of Article 8 § 2. Judgment of 12 July 2001 strictions. Alleged violation of: Article 6 (right to a fair They complained of a violation of their The Grand Chamber upheld the Chamber trial) right to respect for their family life and of not judgment concerning non-violation of Article having had a right to an effective remedy. 13 and the award of just satisfaction for non- Principal facts and complaints In a chamber judgment of 27 April 2000, pecuniary damage. the Court held, unanimously, that there had In June 1949, under the Czechoslovak been a violation of Article 8 and no violation New Land Reform Act No. 46/1948, the Czech of Article 13 and awarded the applicants Ferrazzini v. Italy authorities had expropriated plots of agricul- 40 000 Finnish marks each for non-pecuniary Judgment of 12 July 2001 tural land owned by the applicant’s father, damage and a sum for legal costs and ex- Alleged violations of: Articles 6 (right to a fair who never received compensation. In 1957, penses. The Government of Finland, under trial) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) the applicant inherited his father’s estate. On Article 43 § 1 of the Convention, requested 24 June 1991, Act No. 229/1991 relating to that the case be referred to the Grand Cham- land ownership came into force. It provided Principal facts and complaints ber, arguing that there was no violation of that under certain conditions property con- Article 8, a request which was accepted and The applicant and another person had fiscated under that Act without compensa- gave rise to the present judgment. This is the transferred land, property and a sum of tion could be returned to its former owners. first time the Court has delivered a Grand money to a limited liability company whose The applicant instituted administrative and Chamber judgment following a Chamber object was organising farm holidays for tour- judicial proceedings to recover the land, but, judgment in a case. ists. The company applied to the tax authori- in accordance with the 1991 law, only the ties for a reduction in the applicable rate of land in the State’s possession was returned certain taxes payable on the above-men- to him and not the other plots of land which Decision of the Court tioned transfer of property, which it deemed had already been assigned to individuals. The Court examined the compliance of applicable, and paid the sum it considered These latest could only allow to the assign- each of the measures with Article 8: due. In 1987, the tax authorities served a ment of other equivalent property or finan- supplementary tax assessment on the appli- cial compensation. Restitution agreements cant on the ground that the property trans- were concluded between the applicant and – The emergency care orders ferred to the company had been incorrectly two legal persons, but they were not ap- Concerning the care order of the appli- valued, and two supplementary tax assess- proved by the land office. The applicant cants’ third child, the Court believes that ments on the ground that the company was lodged appeals with the Municipal Court, there need to be extraordinarily compelling ineligible for the reduced rate of tax to which then before the Constitutional Court, which reasons – which had not been shown to exist it had referred. The applicant’s appeal for the were rejected. He died after the lodging of – before a baby may be physically removed first supplementary tax assesssment was the application, but nevertheless, his lawyer from the care of its mother, against her will, struck out of the list in 1988, and, for the two introduced a request for compensation immediately after birth. The authorities had others, the applications were still pending on through the assignment of other plots of several months to find a less drastic measure. October 2000. land, which is still pending. While there may have been a “necessity” to The applicant complained that the The applicant had complained that he take some precautionary measures to pro- length of the proceedings had exceeded a did not have a public hearing before an inde- tect the child, the interference in the appli- “reasonable time” and that he had been “per- pendent and impartial tribunal in the restitu- cants’ family life could not be regarded as secuted by the Italian courts”. tion proceedings in issue. having been “necessary” in a democratic so- ciety. On the contrary, the emergency order Decision of the Court Decision of the Court in respect of the second child, who was al- – Article 6 § 1 ready voluntarily placed in a children’s home, The Court noted that the only hearing was not capable of having the same impact The Court reviewed whether, in the held in the case took place before a land of- on the applicants’ family life. light of changed attitudes in society as to the fice, which cannot be considered as an inde- legal protection that fell to be accorded to pendent court as it is charged with carrying individuals in their relations with the State, out local state administration under the con- – The normal care orders the scope of Article 6 § 1 should not be ex- trol of the Government. In any event, the were not implemented, for the Court, in tended to cover disputes between citizens hearing before this administrative authority a particularly harsh or exceptional way, and and public authorities as to the lawfulness was not public. None of the two jurisdictions protected the interests of the applicants, under domestic law of the tax authorities’ to which the applicant appealed held a public who were properly involved in the decision- decisions. It considered that tax matters still hearing. The municipal court, which could making process. form part of the hard core of public-authority have ruled on whether the facts had been prerogatives, with the public nature of the correctly established, only concluded that relationship between the taxpayer and the the conditions for dispensing with a hearing – The alleged failure to take proper steps to tax authority remaining predominant. De- were met. As to the proceedings before the reunite the family spite the pecuniary effects which tax dis- Constitutional Court, limited to the examina- reveal an exceptionally firm negative at- putes necessarily produce for the taxpayer, tion of questions of constitutionality, it had titude of the authorities, which hindered they fall outside the scope of civil rights and not involved a direct and full determination rather than helped a possible family obligations. Accordingly, Article 6 § 1 does of the applicant’s civil rights in the restitu- reunification. not apply under its “civil” head to tax pro- tion proceedings. A public hearing in those ceedings. proceedings could not, therefore, have rem- edied the lack of a hearing at the decisive – The access restrictions at the time of the stage of the proceedings where the merits of delivery of the Court’s judgement: – Article 14: the applicant’s restitution claims were deter- Regarding the children’s situation during Since the complaint had not been sub- mined. the period after the delivery of the Court’s ini- stantiated, it had to be dismissed as mani- The Court did not award just satisfac- tial judgment, the Court finds that the authori- festly ill-founded. tion, holding that it could not speculate as to the outcome of the restitution proceedings,

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 3 Council of Europe had a public hearing taken place before the tenced to six years’ imprisonment for being a Bilgin v. Turkey national courts. member of a terrorist organisation. Judgment of 17 July 2001 The applicant complained of the length Alleged violations and findings of the Court: of his detention on remand – 5 years and 11 – Article 2 (right to life): violation months – and of the interception of his corre- – Article 5 (right to liberty and security): Selected chamber spondence with his lawyer. violation – Article 13 (right to an effective remedy): judgments of the violation. Court Price v. the United Kingdom The applicant alleged that his brother, Judgment of 10 July 2001 who had disappeared while being held in Alleged violations and findings of the Court: custody, had probably been killed by the se- Phillips v. the United Kingdom – Article 3 (prohibition of degrading curity forces during interrogation and that Judgment of 5 July 2001 treatment): violation there was a lack of an effective investigation Alleged violations and findings of the Court: The applicant, four-limb deficient and into the circumstances of his disappearance – Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial): no violation suffering from problems with her kidneys, was despite the fact that he gave precise informa- – Article 6 § 2 (presumption of innocence): not sentenced to prison for seven days for con- tion on the place and date of his detention. applicable tempt of court, as she had refused, in the – Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of course of civil proceedings, to answer certain property): no violation questions concerning her financial position. Sadak, Zana, Dicle and DoÈan Convicted of being involved in drugs Before it was possible to take her to a wom- v. Turkey trafficking, the applicant had had applied to en’s prison, she spent the first night in a police Judgment of 17 July 2001 him a provision of the Drug Trafficking Act station, in a cell which was not adapted for a Alleged violations and findings of the Court: 1994, which empowers a court to assume disabled person. She could not use the bed – Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 a) and b) (right to a fair that all property held by a person convicted nor the emergency buttons and light trial): violation of a drug-trafficking offence within the pre- switches,and suffered from cold. In the wom- – Articles 10 (freedom of expression), 11 ceding six years represented the proceeds of en’s prison, she could not get in her bed nor (freedom of association) and 14 (prohibition of drug trafficking. On this basis, the applicant use the toilet on her own and was dependent discrimination): unnecessary to examine the was assessed to have received, as the pro- on male prison officers for her hygienic needs. complaints raised under these articles ceeds of drug trafficking, 91 400 pounds The four applicants, all former parlia- sterling, and a confiscation order was made mentarians and members of the former De- for this amount. If the applicant failed to pay, Avêar v. Turkey mocracy Party, were accused of having com- he was to serve an extra two years’ imprison- Judgment of 10 July 2001 mitted treason, punishable by the death ment, consecutive to the nine-year term. The Alleged violations and findings of the Court: penalty under Article 125 of the Criminal applicant was refused leave to appeal against – Article 2 (right to life): violation Code, in relation to activities allegedly un- conviction and sentence. – Article 3 (prohibition of torture or degrading dertaken in the name of the Kurdistan Work- He complained that his right to pre- treatment or punishment): no violation ers’ Party and declarations in support of the sumption of innocence had been violated, – Article 6 (delay in the criminal trial): said Party. They were convicted by the Ankara and that the confiscation order had infringed complaints dealt with under Article 13 State Security Court to 15 years’ imprison- his right to protection of his property. – Article 13 (right to an effective remedy): ment for belonging to an armed organisa- violation tion, but the charges under section 125 were – Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination): no thrown out. Erdem v. Germany violation They complained that they were denied Judgment of 5 July 2001 The applicant complained, inter alia, a fair trial before an independent and impar- Alleged violations and findings of the Court: that his brother was taken away and arbitrar- tial tribunal, particularly in view of the pres- – Article 5 § 3 (right to be brought promptly ily killed by village guards, acting to the ence of a military judge among the State Se- before a judge): violation knowledge, and with the protection of, the curity Court judges who convicted them. – Article 6 § 2 (presumption of innocence): not authorities, and that there was no effective They also alleged that they were convicted of considered separately in view of the preceding investigation into his killing. putting forward, as parliamentarians, the finding views of the Kurdish population in Turkey – Article 8 (right to respect for correspond- and of having developed peaceful solutions ence): no violation Feldek v. Slovakia to the Kurdish question. The applicant, Erdem, a Turkish Judgment of 12 July 2001 national who had had refugee status in Alleged violations and findings of the Court: France, had been arrested on the German – Article 9 (freedom of thought): no separate Association Ekin v. France border on suspicion of being a member of a issue Judgment of 17 July 2001 terrorist organisation and falsifying docu- – Article 10 (freedom of expression): violation Alleged violations and findings of the Court: ments. He was placed in detention on re- – Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination): no – Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing): violation mand and kept in detention prior to and dur- violation – Article 10 (freedom of expression): violation ing the trial of 18 Kurdistan Workers’ Party Several newspapers had published, in – Article 10 taken together with Article 14 (PKK) officials – including himself – which July 1992, a statement which the applicant (prohibition of discrimination): no separate lasted from October 1989 until March 1994, had distributed to the public information issue arose for, among other offences, eleven murders service, in which he made references to the – Article 13 (right to an effective remedy): and six counts of unlawful deprivation of lib- “fascist past” of a Minister, who sued the ap- unnecessary to examine the complaint raised erty. During his detention, the applicant’s plicant for defamation and obtained that a under this Article correspondence with his lawyer was moni- statement be published in five newspapers The applicant association, a cultural tored. At the end of the trial, the Higher Re- asserting that Mr Feldek’s statement repre- Basque association based in Bayonne gional Court ruled that the applicant – whose sented “a gross slander and disparage- (France), complained that the Ministry of the true name was not Erdem – was one of the ment …”. Interior banned the distribution in France of founders of the PKK and a former member of a book on the Basque conflict, entitled the its Executive Committee and had built up Euskadi at war, on the ground that it pro- PKK units in Lebanon and Syria. He was sen- moted separatism, vindicated recourse to

4 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe violent action and, accordingly, represented repayment of two loans, which lasted more Boultif v. Switzerland a potential danger for public order. In June than six years – of which the Court could only Judgment of 2 August 2001 1988 it appealed against the decision in take into consideration three years and eight Alleged violations and findings of the Court: question. In July 1997, the Conseil d’État months, time since the date at which Croatia – Article 8 (right to respect for private and quashed the ministerial decree but, on the recognised the right of individual petition – family life): violation other hand, it held that the law on which the and the lack of effective remedy. The applicant, an Algerian national, en- decision was based was not contrary to Arti- tered Switzerland with a tourist visa in De- cle 10 of the European Convention on cember 1992. On 19 March 1993 he married Human Rights taken together with Article 14. Refah Partisi, Erkaban, Kazan and a Swiss national. On 11 May 1998 he started a The applicant complained that sec- Tekdal v. Turkey two-year prison sentence for robbery and tion 14 of the Law of 1881, as amended, was Judgment of 31 July 2001 other offences, and on 19 May the Swiss au- too unclear for a legal rule and that it did not Alleged violations and findings of the Court: thorities refused to renew his residence per- meet the requirement to be accessible and – Article 11 (freedom of assembly and mit. On 3 December 1999 the Federal Aliens’ foreseeable in its effects. Nor was, in his association): no violation Office ordered him to leave Switzerland by opinion, the interference permitted under – Articles 9 (freedom of thought), 10 (freedom 15 January 2000. Having left Switzerland for the rule necessary in a democratic society. of expression), 14 (prohibition of discrimina- Italy, he complained that the order resulted Furthermore, it alleged that the provision tion), 17 (prohibition of abuse of rights), 18 in his being separated from his wife, who did gave rise to a distinction in freedom of ex- (limitation on use of restrictions on rights), 1 not speak Arabic and could not be expected pression cases on the basis of language or na- and 3 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property, to follow him to Algeria. tional origin and consequently, was contrary and right to free elections): no separate issues to Article 14 taken together with Article 10. arose under these Articles It also complained of an excessive length of After the legislative elections in 1995, Vittorio and Luigi Mancini v. Italy the proceedings and a violation of the right the Refah Partisi had become the leading Judgment of 2 August 2001 to an effective remedy. Turkish political party. In June 1996, it came Alleged violations and findings of the Court: into power by forming a coalition govern- – Article 5 § 1 c) (right to liberty and security): ment with a centre-right party, the DoÈru Yol. violation Pellegrini v. Italy On 16 January 1998, the Consitutional Court The applicants complained about the Judgment of 20 July 2001 made an order dissolving the Refah Partisi on legality of their detention on remand. On Alleged violations and findings of the Court: the ground that it had become a “centre of 23 December 1997, they were arrested and – Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing): violation activities against the principle of secularism”, taken to the Rome prison. On 24 December The applicant complained that the Ital- affecting the Turkish democratic order. It also 1997, they lodged an appeal against the de- ian courts had granted an authority to en- declared that the party’s assets were to be tention order and, on 7 January 1998, the force the decree of nullity of her marriage, transferred by operation of law to the Treas- Rome court chamber in charge of the re-ex- issued by the ecclesiastical courts after a pro- ury, and imposed a further sanction in the amination of the safety measures replaced cedure in which the adversial principle was form of a ban on the three individual appli- the detention on remand of the applicants by not respected, without having been in- cants’ sitting in Parliament or holding certain a house arrest. The text of this new order was formed of the grounds on which the nullity other forms of political office for a period of deposited with the registry on 10 January, petition was made by her husband and with- five years. but, due to the unavailability of a prison serv- out having been assisted by a lawyer. The Court held that the sanctions im- ice, their transfer home could take place only posed on the applicants could reasonably be on 13 January. considered to meet a “pressing social need” The Court held that the delay in the ex- Valaëinas v. Lituania for the protection of democratic society, ecution of the decision was not reduced to Judgment of 24 July 2001 since the leaders of the Refah Partisi had de- the minimum and was incompatible with Alleged violations and findings of the Court: clared their intention to establish a plurality Article 5 § 1. – Article 3 (prohibition of degrading of legal systems based on differences in reli- treatment): violation gious belief, to institute Islamic law (the – Article 8 (right to respect for correspond- Sharia), and left in doubt their position re- N.F. v. Italy ence): violation garding recourse to force in order to come to Judgment of 2 August 2001 – Article 34 (right to individual petition): no power. Alleged violations and findings of the Court: violation – Article 8 (right to respect for private life): no The applicant, who served a sentence of violation 9 years’ imprisonment for the theft, posses- Perna v. Italy – Article 11(freedom of assembly and sion and sale of firearms, alleged that the Judgment of 25 July 2001 association) concerning the restrictions conditions of his detention during a part of Alleged violations and findings of the Court: prescribed by law: violation his punishment – general facilities in the – Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 d) (right to a fair – Articles 9 (freedom of thought, conscience prison, body searches, disciplinary penalties hearing): no violation and religion), 10 (freedom of expression) and – amounted to degrading treatment. He also – Article 10 (freedom of expression): violation 11 (freedom of assembly and association), complained that his correspondence with on account of a part of the complaints taken alone or in conjunction with Article 14 the European Commission and Court of Hu- The case referred to a verdict of guilty (prohibition of discrimination): not necessary man Rights was controlled. against a journalist for defamation of a judi- to examine these complaints cial officer in a daily newspaper. Disciplinary proceedings were brought The applicant complained of an in- against the applicant, a member of the judici- Horvat v. Croatia fringement of his right to defend himself – ary, in connection with his masonic links. He Judgment of 26 July 2001 since the Italian courts had refused through- was reprimanded for having undermined the Alleged violations and findings of the Court: out the proceedings to admit the evidence prestige of the judiciary, under a 1990 direc- – Article 6 § 1 (length of proceedings): he had sought to adduce – and of his right to tive read in conjunction with a decree of 1946. violation freedom of expression. The Court found that the terms of the – Article 13 (right to an effective remedy): 1990 directive were not sufficiently clear to violation allow that the sanction be “forseeable” or The applicant complained about the “prescribed by law” within the meaning of length of civil proceedings concerning the Article 11 of the Convention.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 5 Council of Europe

Elia S.r.l. v. Italy hand, and on a police station, on the other as it failed to examine the merits of decisions Judgment of 2 August 2001 hand, and no violation concerning obtaining by public authorities and was prohibitively Alleged violations and findings of the Court: information about the use of a telephone expensive for individuals. – Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of – Article 13 (right to an effective remedy): property): violation violation concerning the use of covert listening The applicant company complained devices G.B. v. France about the harmful consequences of the un- The applicants, suspected of planning Judgment of 2 October 2001 certain situation over the period 1979 to an armed robbery of a Securicor cash collec- Alleged violations and findings of the Court: 1995 concerning land it owned, which was tion van, were kept under surveillance with a – Article 6 §§ 1 (right to a fair trial within a due to an absolute ban on building in view of covert listening device. The device was dis- reasonable time) and 3 b) (right to adequate its expropriation. covered by them and the robbery did not time and facilities for preparation of defence): For the Court, this uncertainty, coupled take place. Some time later, they were ar- violation with the lack of an effective domestic remedy rested in a stolen car containing balaclavas The case concerns criminal proceedings and denial of any compensation, upset the and other material. As they wished to obtain brought against a French national, who was requisite fair balance between the demands of speech samples to compare with the tapes, convicted of rape and indecent assaults of the general interest and the protection of the the police placed covert listening devices in under-age victims. During his trial, an old right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions. the applicants’ cells and on the police officers medico-psychological report on the appli- who were to be present when the applicants cant was produced for the first time, which were charged. During their trial, evidence de- led an expert to change his opinion, favour- Grande Oriente d’Italia di Palazzo rived from the use of the covert listening de- able until that time, on the threat posed by Giustiniani v. Italy vices was deemed admissible and some G.B. and the likelihood of his reoffending. He Judgment of 2 August 2001 documents were withheld from the appli- was sentenced to 18 year’s imprisonment. Alleged violations and findings of the Court: cants and their lawyers, as well as an oral evi- The applicant complained that his de- – Article 11 (freedom of assembly and dence taken in their absence. They were con- fence counsel was not given sufficient time association): violation victed of conspiracy to rob and sentenced to to study the documents on the strength of – Articles 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 15 years’ imprisonment, without leave to ap- which the expert changed his opinion, and 14 (prohibition of discrimination): no necessity peal. that his request for a new expert opinion was to examine separately the complaints raised rejected. under these articles The applicant association is an Italian Stankov and the United Macedonian masonic association formed of several Organisation Ilinden v. Bulgaria Potocka and Others v. Poland lodges. It has been in existence since 1805 Judgment of 2 October 2001 Judgment of 4 October 2001 and is affiliated to the Universal Freemasons. Alleged violations and findings of the Court: Alleged violations and findings of the Court: It complained about the Marches region’s – Article 11 (freedom of assembly and – Article 6 § 1 (effective access to a court): no adoption of the “law of 1996”, which obliges association): violation violation candidates for public office to declare that The applicant association, a branch of The case concerned the ownership of they are not members of the Freemasons. which was chaired by Mr Stankov at the time two plots of land in Warsaw, which had been The Court found that the measure in of the facts, was founded in 1990 to unite expropriated in 1945. In 1947 an application question was not necessary in a democratic Macedonians in Bulgaria on a regional and was submitted for temporary ownership of society. cultural basis and to achieve recognition of the land, which remained unanswered. the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. In Under the Land Administration and Expro- 1991, it was refused registration as the priation Act of 1985, the applicants applied Ÿahiner v. Turkey courts found that its aims were, in reality, di- unsuccessfully for the right to permanent use Judgment of 25 September 2001 rected against the unity of the nation, that it of the plots in question. Their appeal to the Alleged violations and findings of the Court: advocated ethnic hatred and was dangerous Supreme Administrative Court was rejected. – Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing within a for the territorial integrity of Bulgaria. The applicants alleged, in particular, reasonable time): violation The scope of the case before the Court that they did not have access to a court, as The applicant was accused of being a was limited to events between 1994 and the Supreme Administrative Court, which member of the illegal armed organisation 1997, when the authorities prohibited the was competent to deal with their case, did Dev-Yol and of involvement in activities holding of commemorative meetings organ- not have full jurisdiction on questions of fact undertaken in the name of Dev-Yol including ised by the applicant association. and law. In addition, that court’s jurisdiction bomb attacks and killings. He complained was limited to cases concerning administra- about the lack of independence and imparti- tive proceedings instituted after a certain ality of the Ankara Martial Law Court and the Hatton and others v. the United date. length of the criminal proceedings against Kingdom him (more than fifteen years). Judgment of 2 October 2001 Alleged violations and findings of the Court: Kalantari v. Germany – Article 8 (right to respect for private and Judgment of 11 October 2001 P.G. and J.H. v. the United Kingdom family life and home): violation Alleged violations and findings of the Court: Judgment of 25 September 2001 – Article 13 (right to an effective remedy): – Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or Alleged violations and findings of the Court: violation degrading treatment): struck out of the list – Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial): no violation The applicants complained, among (assurances by the German Government that for the two complaints concerning, one the other things, that, following the introduction the applicant was no longer to be deported) non-disclosure to the applicants of part of a of a new scheme to restrict the noise caused Fleeing from Iran, the applicant applied report at trial or the hearing of evidence from by night flying at Heathrow airport, night- for political asylum in Germany. He claimed a police officer in their absence or in the time noise increased, especially in the early that one of his sisters had been executed in absence of their lawyers, the other concerning morning, which constituted an interference Iran and another had disappeared and that the use at trial of the materials obtained by the with their right to respect for their private he had taken part in anti-government activi- covert listening devices and family lives and their homes. They also ties and had decided to leave Iran after hear- – Article 8: violation concerning the use of claimed that judicial review was not an effec- ing that his home had been searched. His ap- covert listening devices at a flat, on the one tive remedy within the meaning of Article 13,

6 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe plication was rejected, as were his appeals O’Hara v. the United Kingdom that two additional witnesses be heard. The against the decision. Judgment of 16 October 2001 applicant was sentenced to ten years’ impris- He alleged that his expulsion to Iran Alleged violations and findings of the Court: onment. On 6 March 1998 he appealed unsuc- would put him at risk of being subjected to – Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security): no cessfully to Skopje Appellate Court. Following inhuman or degrading treatment. violation an appeal by the public prosecutor, the Appel- – Article 5 § 3 (right to be brought promptly late Court increased the applicant’s sentence before a judge): violation to thirteen years’ imprisonment. His appeal Eliazer v. the Netherlands – Article 5 § 5 (right to compensation): no on points of law was dismissed by the Judgment of 16 October 2001 violation in relation to the complaint raised Supreme Court. Alleged violations and findings of the Court: under Article 5 § 1 and violation in relation in – Article 6 § 1 (access to court) taken with relation to the complaint raised under Article 5 Article 6 § 3 c) (right to defend oneself in § 3 person or through legal assistance of own The applicant, an Irish national and a choosing): no violation prominent member of Sinn Féin, was ar- Einhorn extradition – Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination): no rested in 1985, under the 1984 Prevention of violation Terrorism Act (the 1984 Act), on suspicion of Convicted in proceedings held in absentia having committed a terrorist offence. He was The Court decided on on charges of possession of cocaine, the appli- held in Castlereagh Detention Centre for 19 July to lift the interim cant lodged subsequently a cassation appeal, 6 days and 13 hours, where he was ques- which was declared inadmissible on the ground tioned by the police without making any re- measures adopted in the case that, since he had been convicted in absentia, he ply. He was subsequently released. He chal- of Einhorn v. France, namely its should first file an objection against his convic- lenged the lawfulness of his arrest in request to the French Govern- tion in order to obtain a retrial. domestic proceedings, where the courts re- He complained of lack of access to the jected his complaints. ment to postpone the extradi- Supreme Court and of discriminatory treat- He alleged he was not arrested on rea- tion of Ira Einhorn to the ment, in that, if he had been present at his sonable suspicion that he had committed an trial, he would have been able to lodge a cas- offence, that he was not brought promptly United States. This request was sation appeal. before a judge or other judicial officer and made following a suicide The Court took into account the en- that he did not have an enforceable right to attempt by the applicant. tirety of the proceedings and the balance be- compensation in respect of these matters. tween the various interests involved, and Mr Einhorn, an American reached the conclusion that the State’s inter- national, had run away in est in ensuring that as many cases as possible Pannullo and Forte v. France are tried in the presence of the accused be- Judgment of 30 October 2001 France after having been fore allowing access to cassation proceed- Alleged violations and findings of the Court: condemned in the United ings outweighed the accused’s concern to – Article 8 (right to respect of family life): States, in absentia, for murder. avoid the risk of being arrested by attending violation his trial. It also considered that the situation The applicants, Italian nationals, com- The French Government having of a person convicted in absentia could not be plained, in particular, about the delay by the agreed to extradite Mr Einhorn, comparable to that of a person convicted fol- French authorities in returning their daugh- lowing adversarial proceedings. ter’s body to them after her death in hospital on the ground that he would on 24 June 1996. An autopsy was carried out benefit from a new and fair trial on 9 July 1996 and on 14 February 1997 a and that he would not face the Brennan v. the United Kingdom judge ordered that the child’s body be re- Judgment of 16 October 2001 turned to her parents. death penalty, Mr Einhorn Alleged violations and findings of the Court: lodged an application before – Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 c) (right to a fair trial): no violation in respect of two complaints and Solakov v. “the former Yugoslav the European Court of Human violation in respect of one complaint Republic of Macedonia” Rights, invoking Articles 3 The applicant, an Irish national, was ar- Judgment of 31 October 2001 (prohibition of inhuman or rested on 21 October 1990, under the 1984 Alleged violations and findings of the Court: Act, in relation to the murder of a former – Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 d) (right to a fair trial): no degrading treatment) and 6 § 3 member of the Ulster Defence Regiment. He violation (right to a fair trial) of the was held in Castlereagh Detention Centre Suspected of having smuggled drugs from 21 to 25 October and saw his solicitor from Bulgaria and “the former Yugoslav Re- Convention. for the first time on 23 October, during which public of Macedonia” to the United States and The Court has asked the meeting a police officer was present. The ap- of having set up an international drug-traffick- French Government for further plicant was ultimately found guilty of murder. ing network, the applicant was arrested on 30 He complained of the circumstances in September 1997. On 28 November, the inves- information about the appli- which he was questioned by the police after tigating judge summoned Mr Solakov’s first cant’s legal situation regarding his arrest, alleging, among other things, that lawyer to a hearing in the United States. The he had been denied the right to consult his applicant appointed another lawyer to repre- a possible retrial of his case if solicitor during the initial period in police sent him, who allegedly told the courts he was he is returned to the United custody, that he made admissions prior to re- unable to pay the travel expenses and that States, and it will then consider ceiving any legal advice, that he was not per- there was no need for him to be present. Wit- mitted to have his solicitor present during ness statements from the United States hear- the admissibility of the applica- police interviews or in private and that he ing were read out at the applicant’s trial be- tion. was, as a result, deprived of a fair trial due to fore Skopje Municipal Court, which rejected the reliance on his admissions to convict him. both the applicant’s objection that the de- fence had not been able to cross-examine the witnesses in the United States and his request

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 7 Council of Europe

Articles concerned 6 § 1, 14 Judgments of the Ï Ï Applicants K. Ayd n, C. Ayd n, Date 12/07 Court between 1 July S. AydÏn and Others and 31 October 2001 Defendant state Turkey Applicant Malhous Articles concerned 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 13, 14, 18, 1 Defendant state Czech Republic for which a press of Protocol No. 1 (struck Articles concerned 6 § 1 release was issued out of the list: friendly Date 12/07 settlement) Date 10/07 Applicant Bilgin Defendant state Turkey Applicants Halim Akça, Mehmet Applicants Özçelik and Others, Fidan, Articles concerned 2, 5, 13 È Akçay, Ahmet Akkaya, Ça ro and Özarslaner, Date 17/07 Ibrahim Akkaya, Mustafa Mutlu and YÏldiz Ï Ï Akkaya, Hüseyin Balc , Defendant state Turkey Applicants Karatepe and K rt, Ï Macit Balc , Bilge Baltekin, Articles concerned 5 § 3 (struck out of the list: Okuyucu, Kara and ê ê È È Halil Ba ar, Talip Ba ar, friendly settlement) Bilmen, Ba ci and Mur , È Ahmet Bilgin, Mahmut Date 10/07 Çalo lu, C. Demir, M. Bilgin, Mehmet Bilgin Demir and S. Gül ê (No. 2), Yusuf Bilgiç, Applicants Ye iltepe, Çakmak Defendant state Turkey Fethiye Dinç, Ünzile Dokel, Defendant state Turkey Articles concerned 5 § 3 (struck out of the list: È ê Saadettin E rikale, Na ide Articles concerned 5 §§ 3, 4 and 5 (struck out friendly settlement) Erol, Recep Erol, Sefer Erol of the list: friendly Date 17/07 Defendant state Turkey settlement) Articles concerned 6 § 1, 1 of Protocol No. 1 Date 10/07 Applicant Pogorzelec Date 03/07 Defendant state Poland È Applicants Küçük, Ertu rul Articles concerned 6 § 1 Applicant Romo Defendant state Turkey Date 17/07 Defendant state France Articles concerned 1 of Protocol No. 1 (struck Articles concerned 6 § 1 out of the list: friendly Applicant Sadak and Others Date 03/07 settlement) Defendant state Turkey Date 10/07 Articles concerned 6 § 3 a) and b) ê ð ê Applicants Ila cu, Ivan oc, Le co and Date 17/07 Petrov-Popa Applicant Lamanna Defendant states Moldova and Russian Defendant state Austria Applicant M.T. and Others, A.T. and Federation Articles concerned 6 §§ 1 and 2 Others, E.A. and Others Articles concerned 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 34, 1 of Date 10/07 Defendant state Turkey Protocol No. 1 : Admissibil- Articles concerned 1 of Protocol No. 1 ity decision Applicant Versini Date 17/07 Date 04/07 Defendant state France Articles concerned 6 § 1, 1 of Protocol No. 1 Applicant Association Ekin Applicant Erdem Date 10/07 Defendant state France Defendant state Germany Articles concerned 6 § 1, 10 (alone or taken Articles concerned 5 § 3, 6 § 2, 8 Applicant Tricard, Charles together with Article 14), Date 5/07 Defendant state France 13 Articles concerned 6 § 1 Date 17/07 Applicant Giannangeli, P.G.F. Date 10/07 Defendant state Italy Applicant Pellegrini ê Articles concerned 6 § 1 Applicant Av ar Defendant state Italy Date 5/07 Defendant state Turkey Articles concerned 6 § 1 Articles concerned 2, 3, 13, 14 Date 20/07 Applicant Phillips Date 10/07 Defendant state United Kingdom Applicant Valašinas Articles concerned 6 §§ 1 and 2, 1 of Protocol Applicant Feldek Defendant state Lithuania No. 1 Defendant state Slovakia Articles concerned 3, 8, 34 Date 5/07 Articles concerned 9, 10, 14 Date 24/07 Date 12/07 Applicant Price Applicant Rutten Defendant state United Kingdom Applicant Prince Hans-Adam II of Defendant state Netherlands Articles concerned 3/01 Liechtenstein Articles concerned 5 §§ 1 and 4 Date 10/07 Defendant state Germany Date 24/07 Articles concerned 6 § 1, 14, 1 of Protocol È Ï Applicants Kürküt, De er, Avc , Orak, No. 1 Applicant Van Nus È È Bo a, Do an, Parlak, Date 12/07 Defendant state Netherlands Ï Ï Aktürk and Tay, K z lgedik, Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: È Ÿ Bo , Demir, enses Applicants K. and T. friendly settlement) Defendant state Turkey Defendant state Finland Date 24/07 Articles concerned 3, 5 § 3, 6 §§ 1 and 3 c), Articles concerned 8, 13 13, 14 (struck out of the Date 12/07 Applicant Hirst list: friendly settlement) Defendant state United Kingdom Date 10/07 Applicant Ferrazzini Articles concerned 5 § 4 Defendant state Italy Date 24/07

8 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Applicant Perna Applicant Boultif Applicant Ercan Defendant state Italy Defendant state Switzerland Defendant state Turkey Articles concerned 6 §§ 1 and 3 d), 10 Articles concerned 8 Articles concerned 3, 5 §§ 3 and 4, 6 §§ 1 and Date 25/07 Date 2/08 3 c) (struck out of the list: friendly settlement) Applicant Martinez, F.R. and three Applicants Vittorio and Luigi Mancini Date 25/09 others Defendant state Italy ê Defendant state Italy Articles concerned 5 § 1 c) Applicants Gökta and Others, Ï Ï Ï Articles concerned 6 § 1 Date 2/08 Morsümbül, Y ld r m and Date 26/07 Others Applicant Grande Oriente d’Italia di Defendant state Turkey Applicant Jedamski Palazzo Giustiniani Articles concerned 5 § 3 (struck out of the list: Defendant state Poland Defendant state Italy friendly settlement) Articles concerned 6 § 1 Articles concerned 11, 13, 14 Date 25/09 Date 26/07 Date 2/08 Applicant êçi Applicant Ilijkov Applicants Yusuf Çelebi (No. 2), Özen Defendant state Turkey Defendant state Bulgaria (No. 2), Hasan Öztürk Articles concerned 3, 5, 6, 8, 13, 14, 1 of Articles concerned 5 §§ 3 and 4, 6 § 1 (No. 2), Ömer Öztürk, Protocol No. 1 (struck out Date 26/07 Yunus Öztürk (No. 2), of the list: friendly Sülün (No. 2), Hüseyin settlement) Ÿ Ÿ Applicant Kreps ahin, Mehmet ahin, Date 25/09 Ÿ Ÿ Defendant state Poland Mustafa ahin, Celal en, Ÿ Articles concerned 5 § 3, 6 § 1 Keziban en, Ibrahim Applicants Günay and Others ê ê Date 26/07 Ta demir, Mevlüt Ta demir, Defendant state Turkey ê Zekeriya Ta demir, Necati Article concerned 5 § 3 Applicant Di Giovine Tosun, Fatma Yavuz, Date 27/09 Ÿ Defendant state Italy Hüseyin Yavuz, akir Ï Articles concerned 8 Y lmaz, Öztekin (No. 2), Applicant Nascimento È ê Date 26/07 Baltekino lu, Ba ar, Satu Defendant state Portugal Bozkurt, Ismihan Çelebi, Articles concerned 6 § 1 ê Applicant Horvat Mehmet Çelebi, Dani Date 27/09 Defendant state Croatia (No. 2), Küçükdemirkan, Articles concerned 6 § 1, 13 Minikli, Adil Öztekin, Applicant Jesus Mafra Date 26/07 Ekrem Öztekin, Havva Defendant state Portugal Öztekin, Hicap Öztekin, Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: ê Applicant Mortier Mahir Ta demir, Mustafa friendly settlement) Ÿ YÏ Defendant state France Tosun, evket lmaz Date 27/09 Articles concerned 6 § 1 Defendant state Turkey Date 31/07 Articles concerned 6 § 1, 1 of Protocol No. 1 Applicant Hirvisaari Date 18/09 Defendant state Finland Applicant Zannouti Articles concerned 6 § 1 Defendant state France Applicant S.G. Date 27/09 Articles concerned 5 § 3, 6 § 1 Defendant state France Date 31/07 Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: Applicant Hatton and Others applicant deceased) Defendant state United Kingdom Applicant Malve Date 18/09 Articles concerned 8, 13 Defendant state France Date 2/10 Articles concerned 6 § 1 Applicants I.J.L., G.M.R. and A.K.P. Date 31/07 Defendant state United Kingdom Applicant Akbay Articles concerned 6 § 1 (decision on just Defendant state Turkey Applicants Refah Partisi, Erbakan, satisfaction) Articles concerned 3, 5 §§ 1 c), 3, 4 and 5, 6 Kazan and Tekdal Date 25/09 §§ 1 and 3 a), b) and c), 13 Defendant state Turkey (struck out of the list: Articles concerned 9, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 1 and Applicant P.G. and J.H. friendly settlement) 3 of Protocol No. 1 Defendant state United Kingdom Date 2/10 Date 31/07 Articles concerned 6 § 1, 8, 13 Date 25/09 Applicants Duyonov and Others Applicant Cooperativa La Defendant state United Kingdom Ÿ Ï Laurentina, Elia S.r.l. Applicants ahiner, Ar , Mehmet Ali Articles concerned 6, 13 (struck out of the list: Ï ê Defendant state Italy Y lmaz, Gül en and Halil friendly settlement) È Articles concerned 1 of Protocol No. 1 Yasin Keteno lu, Selçuk Date 2/10 Ï Ï Ï Ï Date 2/08 Y ld r m, Tamkoç, Yalg n, Güneê, Ÿahin, KÏzÏlöz, Applicant Kounounis È Ïê Applicant N.F. Fikret Do an, Yak , Arap Defendant state Cyprus Ï Defendant state Italy Yalg n and Others Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: Articles concerned 8, 9, 10, 11 (taken in Defendant state Turkey friendly settlement) isolation or together with Articles concerned 6 § 1 Date 2/10 Article 14) Date 25/09 Date 2/08

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 9 Council of Europe

Bini, Girolami Zurla, NATO action Castello, Tentori Montalto, Applicant Rodríguez Valín SIT s.r.l., Musiani Dagnini Defendant state Spain challenged Defendant state Italy Articles concerned 6 § 1, 14 A hearing was held on Articles concerned 6 § 1, 1 of Protocol No. 1 Date 11/10 (struck out of the list: 24 October in the case of friendly settlement) Applicant Díaz Aparicio Bankovic and others v. Belgium Date 4/10 Defendant state Spain Articles concerned 6 § 1 and 16 other contracting Applicant I.M. Date 11/10 states concerning the bombing Defendant state Greece Applicant Kalantari by NATO of the Radio-Televi- Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: friendly settlement) Defendant state Germany sion Serbia headquarters in Date 4/10 Articles concerned 3 (struck out of the list) Date 11/10 Belgrade on 23 April 1999, as Applicant Marikanos part of the air-strike campaign Defendant state Greece Applicant O’Hara against the Federal Republic of Articles concerned 6 § 1, 1 of Protocol No. 1 Defendant state United Kingdom (struck out of the list: Articles concerned 5 §§ 1, 3 and 5 Yugoslavia during the Kosovo friendly settlement) Date 16/10 conflict. Five applicants are Date 4/10 Applicant Brennan relatives of the Radio-Televi- Applicant Ilowiecki Defendant state United Kingdom sion Serbia staff killed during Defendant state Poland Articles concerned 6 §§ 1 and 3 c) the strike and the sixth was Articles concerned 5 §§ 3 and 4, 6 § 1 Date 16/10 Date 4/10 injured. Applicant Eliazer The case is brought Applicant Potocka and Others, Bejer Defendant state Netherlands against the 17 member states Defendant state Poland Articles concerned 6 § § 1 and 3 c), 14 Articles concerned 6 § 1 Date 16/10 of NATO which are also Con- Date 4/10 tracting States to the Euro- Applicant Indelicato Applicant Costa pean Convention on Human Defendant state Italy Defendant state Portugal Articles concerned 3 Rights. It alleges a violation of Articles concerned 6 § 1 Date 18/10 Date 4/10 right to life, freedom of Applicant Sciortino expresssion and right to an Applicants Barata Dias, Jácome Allier, Defendant state Italy effective remedy. Branquinho Luís Articles concerned 6 § 1, 1 of Protocol No. 1 The hearing concerned Defendant state Portugal Date 18/10 Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: the admissibility of the case friendly settlement) Applicant Kulakova only, and the main issues Date 4/10 Defendant state Latvia Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: relate to whether the appli- Applicants Schweighofer and Others friendly settlement) cants fell within the “jurisdic- Defendant state Austria Date 18/10 tion” of the respondent states, Articles concerned 6 § 1 Date 9/10 Applicant Mianowicz and also to whether the ac- Defendant state Germany Applicant Parège tions of NATO forces could be Articles concerned 6 § 1 Defendant state France Date 18/10 held held to be the responsi- Articles concerned 6 § 1 bility of the Governments of Date 9/10 Applicants Scannella, Gusso and Grasso, Squillante, G. and the respondent States. Applicant Sahin C.C., Greco, Iezzi and Defendant state Germany Cerritelli, L., Carrone, Articles concerned 8 (alone or taken together Ragas, R.P. and Others, Applicant G.B. with Article 14) Pezzuto, Colacrai, D.I., Defendant state France Date 11/10 Aresu, Tartaglia, Minici, Articles concerned 6 §§ 1 and 3 b) Dragonetti, Lucio Mario Date 2/10 Applicant Sommerfeld, Hoffmann Catillo, Stefanucci, Calò, Defendant state Germany Reino, Tozzi, Ar. M., Applicants Stankov and the United Articles concerned 6, 8 (alone or taken Morese No. 2, Carlucci, Macedonian Organisation toghether with Article 14) Siena, Corcelli, Molè, Ilinden Date 11/10 Cesaro, Buonocore, Efisio Defendant state Bulgaria Pisano, Altomonte, E.I., Articles sconcerned 11 Applicant H.T. Campana Date 2/10 Defendant state Germany Defendant state Italy Articles concerned 6 § 1 Articles concerned 6 § 1 Applicants Barone, Immobiliare Anba, Date 11/10 Date 23/10 Micucci, Serlenga, Pini and

10 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Porcelli, Atzori, Bartolini, Applicant Saggio Condominio Città di Applicants Coelho Alves, Themudo Defendant state Italy Prato, Paolelli No. 2, Barata No. 2 Articles concerned 6 § 1, 13, 1 of Protocol Ascolinio, Troiani, Rosetti Defendant state Portugal No. 1 e Ciucci & C., E.G., Spera Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: Date 25/10 No. 2, Siper S.r.l., Di friendly settlement) Francesco, Masala, Galgani Date 25/10 Applicant E.H. and De Matteis No. 2, Defendant state Greece Mantini, Pomante Applicant Pires Articles concerned 6 § 1 Pappalepore, Il Messagero Defendant state Portugal Date 25/10 S.a.s., O.B., Musti and Article sconcerned 6 § 1 Iarossi, Il Messaggero Date 25/10 Applicant Tiburzi S.a.s. no 7, D’Ammassa Defendant state Greece and Frezza, Stefanini, G.F., Applicant Saki Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: F.C. and F.G., Ferrari No. 2, Defendant state Turkey friendly settlement) Iacovelli, Rongoni, Articles concerned 3, 13 (struck out of the list: Date 25/10 Venturini, Am. M. and S.I., friendly settlement) Morelli and Levantesi, Di Date 30/10 Applicants Massimo No. 1, Rinaudo Fabio, Valenti, Rizio, Bini, ê Ï and Others, Venturini Iannetti, Salvi, Rosa, Baldi, Applicants Bürkev, Kanbur, Ba p nar, ÈÏ Ï No. 2, Massimo No. 2, Marinelli, Mari No. 2, De Hasan Ya z, Ad yaman, ê Centineo, Finessi, Raffa, Santis No. 1, De Santis Genç, Pekda , Akçam, Ï Alicino, Valvo and Branca, No. 2, Savanna and La Keskin, Karademir, Akyaz ,  Scarfone, Servodidio, Selva, Baroni and nan Guerrera No. 1, Rizzo, Michinelli, Marcantoni, Defendant state Turkey Quattrone, Di Sisto, Alfonsetti, De Pilla, Articles concerned 6 § 1 Napolitano, Viola, Franco, Chinnici, Consalvo, Date 30/10 Guerrera No. 2, Follo, Mel Lilla Santilli, Barnaba Sud S.r.l., G.C., Pastore, Defendant state Italy Applicant Erdemli Castrogiovanni, De Articles concerned 6 § 1 Defendant state Turkey Simine, Vairano, Seminara, Date 25/10 Articles concerned 6 § 1 (struck out of the list: I.P.E.A. S.r.l., Galasso, Di friendly settlement) Girolamo and Others, Date 30/10

Publications No. 1. The right to respect for private and family life – A guide to the implementation of Article 8 of the Euro- New series: Human rights handbooks pean Convention on Human Rights by Ursula Kilkelly DGII’s information and publication support unit No. 2. Freedom of expression – A guide to the imple- (IPSU) has launched a new series entitled mentation of Article 10 of the European Conven- “Human rights handbooks”. tion on Human Rights by Monica Macovei The human rights handbooks are intended as a very practical guide to how particular No. 3. The right to a fair trial articles of the European – A guide to the implemen- Convention on Human Rights tation of Article 6 of the have been applied and European Convention on interpreted by the European Human Rights Court of Human Rights in by Nuala Mole and Catharina Harby Strasbourg. They were written with legal practition- No. 4. The right to property ers, and particularly judges, in – A guide to the implemen- mind, but are accessible also to other interested tation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the readers. European Convention on Human Rights There are four titles in the series so far: by Monica Carss-Frisk

They are published in English only at present. The booklets are available free of charge from the Human Rights Informa- tion Centre.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 11 Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers’ actions under the European Convention on Human Rights

The Committee of Ministers acts to ensure the The Committee of Ministers’ decisions on just collective guarantee of the rights and fundamental satisfaction are not published separately but appear freedoms contained in the Convention and its as “traditional” or “final” resolutions. protocols under the following articles: Under Article 54 of the former version of the Under Article 32 of the former version of the Convention, now Article 46 of the Convention as Convention (see the transitional provisions in Proto- modified by Protocol No. 11, the Committee of col No. 11) it has responsibility for deciding, for cases Ministers has the responsibility for supervising the that are not referred to the Court, whether or not carrying out of the measures adopted by the defend- there has been a violation of the Convention; and for ing states for the implementation of the Court’s awarding, where necessary, just satisfaction to the judgments. These may be measures that concern the victims. The Committee of Ministers’ decision con- applicant, such as payment of just satisfaction, cerning the violation – which can be equated with a reopening of proceedings at the origin of the viola- judgment of the Court – may, since 1995, take one of tion, reversal of a judicial verdict or discontinuation two forms: an “interim” resolution, which at the same of expulsion proceedings; or measures to prevent the time makes public the Commission’s report; or a repetition of the violation, such as changing legisla- “traditional” resolution (adopted after the complete tion or case-law, appointing extra judges or magis- execution of the judgment), in which case the trates to absorb a backlog of cases, building Commission’s report remains confidential for the detention centres suitable for juvenile delinquents, entire period of the execution. introducing training for the police, or other similar So in the same way as it supervises the execu- steps. tion of the Court’s judgments, the Committee of Owing to the large number of resolutions Ministers is also responsible for supervising the adopted by the Committee of Ministers under these execution of its own decisions; and its examination is articles, they are included here in a “country-by- not complete until all the measures for the execution country” list, with only those which present a particu- of the judgment have been carried out. Where the lar interest being summarised. Further information Committee of Ministers decides to publish immedi- may be obtained from the Directorate General of ately its decision on the violation, a “final” resolution Human Rights at the Council of Europe, or through is adopted once all the measures required for its the Committee of Ministers’ Internet site at http:// execution have been carried out. www.coe.int/cm/.

Publication of the Resolutions adopted gard to the necessity of holding a public hearing in proceedings before the real prop- Committee of Ministers’ erty transactions authorities (Grundverkehrs- Austria human rights work kommission). Consequently, these authorities were following the general practice of the Beer Marie-Luise v. Austria administrative authorities under Section 40 The Council of Europe Commit- Appl. No. 23962/94, Interim Resolution DH (98) of the General Administrative Procedure Act, tee of Ministers has made public the 206 according to which a hearing is not held in Final Resolution ResDH (2001) 81, 23 July public, unless the law provides otherwise. annoted agenda of its 3 October 2001 Following the finding of the violation of human rights meeting. Violation of Article 6.1 (failure to hold a public Article 6 in the present case, an amendment During this meeting, the hearing) of the Tyrolean Real Property Transaction Act Committee supervised the execution of adopted. This amendment, which entered more than 700 cases, including 92 new Appendix into force on 31 December 1999, introduced into the aforementioned law the following judgments of the European Court of to Final Resolution new provision: ResDH (2001) 81 Human Rights. “The Real Property Transaction Authority The annoted agenda is available Information provided by the Government of shall hold a public hearing if the appeal is not on the Committee of Ministers’ Austria during the examination of the Beer referred back or if it appears already from the website: http://www.coe.int/cm/ Marie-Luise case by the Committee of Ministers file that the appealed decision must be The Government recalls that the quashed. A hearing does not take place if all Tyrolean Real Property Transaction Act, parties explicitly renounce it. A hearing may which was in force at the time of the facts of furthermore be omitted in a case in which the the present case, lacked precision with re- appeal is allowed, if it is not contrary to the

12 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe request of another party or if the rights of “After the report, the representative of Escobar Londono and Others v. third parties are not affected” (new Article 28, the prosecutor’s office shall give his conclu- Belgium paragraph 2). sions. The parties shall then be heard. […] Appl. No. 19171/91, Interim Resolution DH (95) This new provision, which sets down When the conclusions of the representa- 261, Interim Resolution DH (98) 133 the principle of a public hearing before the tive of the prosecutor’s office are in writing, Resolution ResDH (2001) 111, 15 October real property transactions authorities, con- the parties may, not later than the hearing and 2001 stitutes henceforth a lex specialis to Sec- solely in reply to the conclusions of the repre- Finding of violation comparable to that tion 40 of the General Administrative Proce- sentative of the prosecutor’s office, submit a in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- dure Act. memorandum, in which they may not adduce ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix The Government notes that this prob- new arguments. to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. lem does not arise in the other Länder. Any party may request at the hearing The Government is of the opinion that that the case be held over, so that he can re- L.C. v. Belgium the above-mentioned amendment prevents ply orally, or in a memorandum, to the writ- Appl. No. 30346/96, Commission decisions new violations similar to that found in the ten or oral conclusions of the representative 2 July 1997 and 8 June 1999 present case and that Austria has accordingly of the prosecutor’s office. The court shall Resolution ResDH (2001) 90, 23 July 2001 complied with its obligations under former specify the time by which a memorandum Article 6.1: friendly settlement Article 32 of the Convention. must be submitted.” It should be emphasised that the Act Rosenberg v. Belgium C.H. v. Austria provides that the opinion of the represen- Appl. No. 24906/94, Commission decisions Appl. No. 27629/95 tative of the prosecutor’s office is to be com- 15 May 1996 and 26 February 1997, Interim Resolution ResDH (2001) 142, 15 October municated to the parties’ legal representa- Resolution DH (98) 13, Interim Resolution DH 2001 tives or to the parties themselves if they are (98) 133 Article 6.2: friendly settlement not represented. Resolution ResDH (2001) 112, 15 October Secondly, the provision contained in 2001 Belgium Article 1109 of the Judicial Code allowing the Finding of violation comparable to that representative of the prosecutor’s office to in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- Borgers v. Belgium attend the deliberations, except in cases ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix Appl. No. 12005/86, Court judgment 30 Oct- where he himself had appealed to the Cour de to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. ober 1991, Interim Resolution DH (98) 133 Cassation, has been revoked. It has been re- Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, 15 October placed as follows: “judgments shall be given S.P.R.L. Anca and Others v. Belgium 2001 at a public hearing by the President, in the Appl. No. 26363/95, Commission decisions Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage presence of the representative of the pros- 15 May 1996 and 16 October 1996, Interim – finding of violation sufficient; costs and ecutor’s office, and with the registrar in at- Resolution DH (97) 509, Interim Resolution DH expenses award – Convention proceedings tendance”. (98) 133 The Government of Belgium believes Resolution ResDH (2001) 113, 15 October Appendix that there is no further risk of violations of 2001 to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108 the kind found in this case, and that it has Finding of violation comparable to that accordingly complied with its obligations in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- Information provided by the Government of under the former Article 53 of the Conven- ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix Belgium during the examination of the Borgers tion. to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. case by the Committee of Ministers The Government of Belgium points out De Brabandere and Others v. Belgium Ulens v. Belgium that, immediately after the European Court Appl. No. 21010/92, Interim Resolution DH (97) Appl. No. 22113/92, Commission decision of Human Rights had given judgment in the 357, Interim Resolution DH (98) 133 31 August 1994, Interim Resolution DH (97) 356, Borgers case, the Cour de Cassation provision- Resolution ResDH (2001) 109, 15 October Interim Resolution DH (98) 133 ally introduced a new practice whereby appli- 2001 Resolution ResDH (2001) 114, 15 October cants may reply to the opinion of the repre- Finding of violation comparable to that 2001 sentative of the prosecutor’s office, and the in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- Finding of violation comparable to that latter no longer takes part in the delibera- ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- tions. This measure was also applied, in civil to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix proceedings, immediately after the issue of to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. the European Court’s judgment in the Decoopman v. Belgium Vermeulen case, and, in disciplinary proceed- Appl. No. 28055/95, Interim Resolution DH (99) Van Orshoven v. Belgium ings, immediately after the issue of the judg- 470 Appl. No. 20122/92, Court judgment 25 June ment in the Van Orshoven case. Resolution ResDH (2001) 107, 15 October 1997, Interim Resolution DH (98) 133 This practice has now been enshrined in 2001 Resolution ResDH (2001) 115, 15 October the Judicial Code, to bring Belgian law fully Violation of Article 6.1 2001 into line with the requirements of the Conven- Finding of violation comparable to that tion: the Act of 14 November 2000, amending E.v.H. v. Belgium in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- the Judicial Code in respect of the interven- Commission decisions 30 June 1993 and 7 De- ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix tion of the Representative of the prosecutor’s cember 1993, Interim Resolution DH (98) 133 to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. office in proceedings before the Cour de Cassa- Resolution ResDH (2001) 110, 15 October tion and, in civil cases, the courts deciding on 2001 Van Wijck v. Belgium the merits, and amending Articles 420bis and Finding of violation comparable to that Appl. No. 17123/90, Commission decisions 420ter of the Code of Criminal Procedure was in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- 2 December 1992 and 20 October 1993, In- published in the Official Gazette on 19 Decem- ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix terim Resolution DH (98) 133 ber 2000, and so came into force on that day. to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. Resolution ResDH (2001) 116, 15 October First, Article 1107 of the Judicial Code 2001 has been amended and now provides that: Finding of violation comparable to that in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas-

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 13 Council of Europe ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix France Germany to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. Abbas v. France Klein v. Germany Vereecken v. Belgium Appl. No. 35783/97, Commission decision Appl. No. 33379/96, Court judgment 27 July Appl. No. 20216/92, Commission decisions 9 September 1998 2000 1 September 1993 and 31 August 1994, Interim Resolution ResDH (2001) 102, 23 July 2001 Resolution ResDH (2001) 103, 23 July 2001 Resolution DH (98) 133 Article 8: friendly settlement Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage Resolution DH (2001) 117, 15 October – finding of violation sufficient; costs and 2001 Ait Said v. France expenses partial award Finding of violation comparable to that Appl. No. 42224/98, admissibility decision in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- 7 March 2000 Greece ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix Resolution ResDH (2001) 144, 15 October to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. 2001 Efstratiou v. Greece Article 6.1: friendly settlement Appl. No. 24095/94, Commission decision Vermeulen v. Belgium 16 October 1995, Court judgment 18 Decem- Appl. No. 19075/91, Commission decisions Bacquet v. France ber 1996 29 June 1992 and 19 October 1993, Court Appl. No. 36667/97, admissibility decisions Resolution ResDH (2001) 82, 23 July 2001 judgment 20 February 1996, Interim Resolution 3 December 1997 and 2 March 1999 No violation of Article 3; no violation of Article DH (98) 133 Resolution ResDH (2001) 96, 23 July 2001 9; no violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1; Resolution ResDH (2001) 118, 15 October Article 6.1: friendly settlement violation of Article 13 taken together with 2001 Article 2 of Protocol No. 1; violation of Article Finding of violation comparable to that Camilla v. France 13 taken together with Article 9; non- in the Borgers case, requiring the same meas- Appl. No. 38840/97, admissibility decisions pecuniary damage – finding of violation ures to avoid similar violations. See appendix 16 April 1998 and 8 December 1998 sufficient; costs and expenses partial award – to Resolution ResDH (2001) 108, above. Resolution ResDH (2001) 92, 23 July 2001 Convention proceedings Article 6.1: friendly settlement Estonia Appendix Dachar v. France to Resolution ResDH (2001) 82 Slavgorodski v. Estonia Appl. No. 42338/98, admissibility decisions Appl. No. 37043/97, Commission decisions 15 September 1998 and 6 June 2000 Information provided by the Government of 21 May 1998 and 9 March 1999 Resolution ResDH (2001) 89, 23 July 2001 Greece during the examination of the Efstratiou Resolution ResDH (2001) 101, 23 July 2001 Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage case by the Committee of Ministers Article 6.1: friendly settlement – financial award The Government of Greece notes that the violations of Article 13 in the Efstratiou Finland Donati v. France and Valsamis cases were due to the well set- Appl. No. 37989/97, admissibility decision tled case-law of the Supreme Administrative H.L. v. Finland 29 September 1999 Court, according to which decisions of school Appl. No. 33600/96, Commission decision Resolution ResDH (2001) 93, 23 July 2001 authorities to impose on pupils the penalties 20 January 2000 Article 6.1: friendly settlement provided in Article 27 of Presidential Decree Resolution ResDH (2001) 91, 23 July 2001 Nos. 104/1979 (including suspension from Article 6.1: friendly settlement Droulez v. France school for up to 5 days) could not be con- Appl. No. 41860/98, admissibility decision tested before the administrative courts. Only Kuopila v. Finland 11 January 2000 decisions ordering transfer to another school Appl. No. 27752/95, Commission decision Resolution ResDH (2001) 94, 23 July 2001 had been held to be quashable by the 1 June 1999, Court judgment 27 April 2000 Article 6.1: friendly settlement Supreme Administrative Court (see para- Resolution ResDH (2001) 122, 15 October graphs 17 and 49 of the judgment). 2001 M.K. v. France Following the finding of violations in Violation of Article 6.1 ; Préjudice moral – Appl. No. 30148/96, admissibility decisions these two cases, the judgments of the Euro- réparation pécuniaire ; Remboursement partiel 4 September 1996 and 19 September 1997 pean Court of Human Rights have been dis- frais et dépens – procédure de la Convention Resolution ResDH (2001) 95, 23 July 2001 seminated within the Ministries of Justice Articles 5.1.f, 8: friendly settlement and of National Education and Religious Af- Launikari v. Finlande fairs and have also been transmitted to the Appl. No. 34120/96, Court judgment 20 Oct- Santelli v. France Supreme Administrative Court. The judg- ober 2000 Appl. No. 40717/98, admissibility decision ments were also published (in Greek) with Resolution ResDH (2001) 88 du 23 July 26 September 2000 comments in To Syntagma (1997, p. 995), a 2001 Resolution ResDH (2001) 145, 15 October journal widely disseminated in legal circles. Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage 2001 The Government considers that, having – financial award; costs and expenses partial Article 6.1: friendly settlement regard to the dissemination and publication award – domestic proceedings; costs and of these judgments and to the recent devel- expenses award – convention proceedings Siegel v. France opments concerning the direct effect of the Appl. No. 36350/97, admissibility decision Convention and of the European Court’s Valle v. Finlande 28 September 1999, Court judgment 28 Nov- case-law in Greek law (as evidenced by Reso- Appl. No. 28808/95 ember 2000 lution DH (99) 714 in the Papageorgiou case Resolution ResDH (2001) 143, 15 October Resolution ResDH (2001) 123, 15 October and new recent examples from the domestic 2001 2001 case-law, notably, judgment 14/1999 of the Article 8 (private life – correspondence) Violation of Article 6.1 Court of Cassation (plenary); judgment 954/ 1999 of the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal; judgment 1141/1999 of the Supreme Administrative Court (first chamber); etc.), domestic courts will not fail to declare admis- sible future complaints against decisions or-

14 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe dering disciplinary sanctions, such as suspen- Italy Pagliacci et Marruco v. Italy sion from school, and to quash those deci- Appl. No. 44366/98, admissibility decision sions if they are unlawful. The lack of specific Arquilla v. Italy 14 December 1999, Court judgment 21 Novem- jurisprudence showing this change in the Appl. No. 44374/98, admissibility decision ber 2000 courts’ attitude is only due to the very excep- 14 December 1999, Court judgment 21 Novem- Resolution ResDH (2001) 130, 15 October tional nature of such complaints. ber 2000 2001 The Government therefore considers Resolution ResDH (2001) 134, 15 October Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage that there is no risk of new violations similar 2001 – financial award; costs and expenses partial to those found in the Efstratiou and Valsamis Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage award – Convention proceedings judgments and that Greece has consequently – financial award; costs and expenses partial complied with its obligations under Article award – Convention proceedings Palazzo v. Italy 46, paragraph 1 (former Article 53) of the Appl. No. 44356/98, admissibility decision Convention. Berrettari v. Italy 28 September 1999, Court judgment 17 Oct- Appl. No. 41827/98, admissibility decision ober 2000 Klavdianos v. Greece 25 May 1999, Court judgment 8 February 2000 Resolution ResDH (2001) 127, 15 October Appl. No. 38841/97, admissibility decision Resolution ResDH (2001) 125, 15 October 2001 20 September 1999 2001 Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage Resolution ResDH (2001) 97, 23 July 2001 Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage – financial award; costs and expenses partial The Committee of Ministers … – financial award; costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings Recalling that … the Court, seized of award – Convention proceedings the case under Article 5, paragraph 2, of Pro- Palombo v. Italy tocol No. 11, declared admissible the com- Canzano v. Italy Appl. No. 44358/98, admissibility decision plaint relating to the excessive length of cer- Appl. No. 44371/98, admissibility decision 28 September 1999, Court judgment 17 Oct- tain proceedings concerning civil rights and 14 December 1999, Court judgment 21 Novem- ober 2000 obligations before the administrative courts; ber 2000 Resolution ResDH (2001) 139. 15 October Whereas in its judgment of 17 October Resolution ResDH (2001) 131, 15 October 2001 2000 the Court, after having taken formal 2001 Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage note of a friendly settlement reached by the Violation of Article 6.1; préjudice moral – – financial award Government of the respondent state and the réparation pécuniaire ; remboursement partiel applicant, and having satisfied itself that the frais et dépens – procédure de la Convention Pareschi v. Italy settlement was based on respect for human Appl. No. 44373/98, admissibility decision rights as defined in the Convention or its Di Muro v. Italy 14 December 1999, Court judgment 21 Novem- Protocols, decided unanimously to strike the Appl. No. 44363/98, admissibility decision 14 ber 2000 case out of its list and took note of the par- December 1999, Court judgment 21 November Resolution ResDH (2001) 133, 15 October ties’ undertaking not to request a re-hearing 2000 2001 of the case before the Grand Chamber; Resolution ResDH (2001) 129 du 15 Oct- Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage Whereas under the above-mentioned ober 2001 – financial award; costs and expenses partial friendly settlement it was agreed that the Gov- Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage award – Convention proceedings ernment of Greece would pay the applicant, as – financial award; costs and expenses partial soon as the judgment was notified, the sum of award – Convention proceedings Perosino v. Italy 2 500 000 drachmas free of tax; Appl. No. 44372/98, admissibility decision … Iorio v. Italy 14 December 1999, Court judgment 21 Novem- Having satisfied itself that on 6 February Appl. No. 44376/98, admissibility decision ber 2000 2000, the Government of the respondent 14 December 1999, Court judgment 21 Novem- Resolution ResDH (2001) 132, 15 October state had paid the applicant the sum provided ber 2000 2001 for in the friendly settlement and that no Resolution ResDH (2001) 135, 15 October Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage other measure was required in the present 2001 – financial award; costs and expenses partial case to conform to the Court’s judgment, Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage award – Convention proceedings Declares, after having taken note of the – financial award; costs and expenses partial information supplied by the Government of award – Convention proceedings Piscopo v. Italy Greece, that it has exercised its functions Appl. No. 44357/98, admissibility decision under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Conven- L.G. III v. Italy 14 December 1999, Court judgment 21 Novem- tion in this case. Appl. No. 37188/97, admissibility decision ber 2000 22 April 1998, Court judgment 2 November Resolution ResDH (2001) 128, 15 October Valsamis v. Greece 1999 2001 Appl. No. 21787/93, Commission decision Resolution ResDH (2001) 124 du 15 Oct- Violation of Article 6.1; pecuniary damage – 29 November 1994, Court judgment 18 Decem- ober 2001 claim rejected; non-pecuniary damage – ber 1996 Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage financial award Resolution ResDH (2001) 83, 23 July 2001 – financial award No violation of Article 3; no violation of Article Porretta v. Italy 9; no violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1; Mazzotti v. Italy Appl. No. 34288/96, Commission decision violation of Article 13 taken together with Appl. No. 44354/98, admissibility decision 16 September 1997, Interim Resolution DH (98) Article 2 of Protocol No. 1; violation of Article 29 September 1999, Court judgment 17 Oct- 327 13 taken together with Article 9; non- ober 2000 Resolution ResDH (2001) 137, 15 October pecuniary damage – finding of violation Resolution ResDH (2001) 138, 15 October 2001 sufficient; costs and expenses partial award – 2001 Violation of Article 6.1 Convention proceedings Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage Finding of violation comparable to that – financial award; costs and expenses partial in the Efstratiou case, requiring the same award – Convention proceedings measures to avoid similar violations. See ap- pendix to Resolution ResDH (2001) 82, above.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 15 Council of Europe

Scozzari et Giunta v. Italy mented their earlier proposal so as to organ- Stritzel v. Italy Appl. Nos. 39221/98 and 41963/98, Court ise, after adequate preparation in Italy, con- Appl. No. 39172/98, Commission decision judgment 13 July 2000, Interim Resolution tacts between Ms Scozzari and her children 15 September 1998, Interim Resolution (99) ResDH (2001) 65 in Belgium under the supervision and with 641 Interim Resolution ResDH (2001) 151, the assistance of the competent Belgian Final Resolution ResDH (2001) 136, 3 October 2001 authorities; 15 November 2001 The Committee of Ministers, under the Having carefully examined the informa- Violation of Article 6.1 terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Con- tion so far provided by the Italian authorities vention for the Protection of Human Rights on the measures taken, since September Excessive length of judicial proceed- and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter re- 2000, to implement the Court’s judgment and ings in Italy ferred to as “the Convention”) and having re- noting that, after the three preliminary meet- In conformity with Interim Resolution gard to the Rules concerning the application ings between the mother and her children ResDH (2000) 135 adopted in October 2000 of this article, which took place in March-April 2001, the (see Bulletin No. 51), the Committee of Minis- Having regard to the judgment of the Florence Youth Court in July 2001 notably au- ters made a preliminary examination of the European Court of Human Rights of 13 July thorised further contacts, on a monthly basis, first annual report provided by the Italian 2000 in the Scozzari and Giunta case, in in the presence of persons nominated by the authorities on the adoption by Italy of meas- which the Court notably found two violations social services from among those never previ- ures aiming at remedying the problem of ex- of Article 8 of the Convention on account, ously involved in the procedure, and con- cessive length of judicial proceedings. first, of the delays in organising contact visits firmed the placement of the children into pub- The Committee welcomed the progress and the limited number of such visits be- lic care in the Forteto community for an made and considered that further informa- tween the first applicant and her children, additional period of three years, which could tion was necessary before proceeding to a after they had been taken into public care be shortened under specific conditions; more detailed evaluation of the implementa- and, secondly, of the placement, uninter- Regretting that, more than one year tion of these measures. rupted to date, of the children in the commu- after the European Court’s judgment, the lat- It also noted the fact that a new law (the nity Il Forteto in the circumstances described ter has still not been fully executed; in fact, “Pinto Act”) had been adopted to compensate in paragraphs 201 to 216 of the judgment, several problems at the basis of the Court’s the victims of excessively long proceedings. namely: finding of a violation in respect of the place- However, concern was expressed at the fact – the failure of the authorities to provide ment in the Forteto community have not that this legislation does not foresee the full and pertinent explanations on the been remedied; speeding up of the proceedings and that its reasons justifying the sending of the Noting that the Italian authorities, on ac- application poses a risk of aggravating the children in this community in spite of count of the above-mentioned shortcomings, backlog of the appeal courts. the elements which made understand- have undertaken to give full effect to the It accordingly decided to resume con- able, from an objective standpoint, the Court’s judgment without delay; sideration of this question in February 2002, first applicant’s concerns, namely the Invites the Italian authorities rapidly to in the light of supplementary information fact that certain “Forteto” leaders with take concrete and effective measures in order which will be supplied by Italy. serious previous convictions for ill- to prevent that the children be irreversibly treatment and sexual abuse of handi- separated from their mother and to ensure Poland capped people placed in the community that their placement respect the superior in- could still play an active role in bringing terests of the children and the mother’s rights, Witold Litwa v. Poland up the children ; as defined by the Court in its judgment; Appl. No. 26629/95, Commission decision – the fact that the implementation of the Encourages the Italian authorities in 15 September 1997, Court judgment 4 April Youth Court’s decisions had been de- particular to reinforce their contacts with the 2000 flected from their intended purpose of Belgian authorities with a view to organising Resolution ResDH (2001) 141, 15 October allowing visits between the mother and meetings very quickly between mother and 2001 the children to take place as a result of children at a neutral location, pursuant to the The Committee of Ministers … the attitude of the social services and of decision of the Florence Youth Court, Recalling that the case originated in an some of the leaders of Il Forteto – in- Decides to resume consideration of this application (No. 26629/95) against Poland, cluding one of the convicted men – who case, if need be, at each of its meetings. lodged with the European Commission of had delayed or hindered the implemen- Human Rights on 6 August 1994 under former tation of such decisions and exercised a Senese v. Italy Article 25 of the Convention by Mr Witold mounting influence on the children Appl. No. 43295/98, admissibility decision Litwa, a Polish national, and that the Commis- aimed at distancing them from their 5 October 1999, Court judgment 21 November sion declared admissible the complaint that mother; 2000 his detention in a “sobering-up centre” was – the doubt about who really has effective Resolution ResDH (2001) 126, 15 October unlawful and arbitrary; care of the children ; 2001 … – the failure of the relevant authorities, in Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage Whereas in its judgment of 4 April 2000 particular the judiciary, to increase their – financial award the Court: level of supervision; – held, by six votes to one, that there had – the absence of any time limit on the Silveri v. Italy been a violation of Article 5, paragraph care order; Appl. No. 44353/98, admissibility decision 1, of the Convention; Having furthermore regard to Interim 28 September 1999, Court judgment 17 Oct- – held, unanimously, that the government Resolution ResDH (2001) 65 adopted by the ober 2000 of the respondent state was to pay the Committee of Ministers on 29 May 2001, in Resolution ResDH (2001) 140, 15 October applicant, within three months, 8 000 which the Committee, considering the urgency 2001 Polish zlotys in respect of non-pecuni- of the situation, encouraged the Italian and Bel- Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage ary damage; 15 000 Polish zlotys in re- gian authorities to implement without delay a – financial award; costs and expenses partial spect of costs and expenses together proposal submitted by the latter regarding an award – Convention proceedings with any value-added tax that may be alternative placement of the children in Bel- chargeable, less 13 174 French francs to gium where the mother currently lives; be converted into Polish zlotys at the Noting with interest, in this respect, exchange rate applicable at the date of that the Belgian authorities have supple- delivery of the judgment and that sim-

16 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

ple interest at an annual rate of 21% ‡ap¹íková v. Slovakia Sürek II v. Turkey would be payable on those sums from Appl. No. 38853/97, admissibility decision Sürek IV v. Turkey the expiry of the above-mentioned 6 April 2000 Court judgments 9 June 1998, 8 July 1999, three months until settlement; Resolution ResDH (2001) 149, 15 October 28 September 1999, 16 March 2000, 15 June – dismissed, unanimously, the remainder of 2001 2000, 18 July 2000 and 10 October 2000, and the applicant’s claim for just satisfaction; Article 6.1: friendly settlement Interim Resolution DH (99) 560 … Interim Resolution ResDH (2001) 106, 23 Whereas during the examination of the Spain July 2001 case by the Committee of Ministers, the gov- ernment of the respondent state drew the Pérez de Rada Cavanilles v. Spain Violations of freedom of expression Committee’s attention to the fact that, on Appl. No. 28090/95, Court judgment 28 Oct- in Turkey: individual measures account of the specific circumstances of the ober 1998 case, new similar violations of the Conven- Resolution ResDH (2001) 84, 23 July 2001 The Committee of Ministers, under the tion could be avoided for the future by in- Violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage terms of former Articles 32 and 54 as well as forming the authorities concerned of the re- – finding of violation sufficient; costs and of new Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Con- quirements of the Convention: copies of the expenses partial award – Convention vention for the Protection of Human Rights judgment translated into Polish had accord- proceedings; Article 6 applicable and Fundamental Freedoms, as amended by ingly been sent out to the police and staff of Protocol No. 11 (hereinafter referred to as all sobering-up centres under the supervi- Turkey “the Convention”), sion of local self-governments, together with Having regard to the judgments of the a circular letter from the Ministry of Internal Bekdemir v. Turkey European Court of Human Rights transmit- Affairs; in addition, the Court’s judgment has Appl. No. 31853/96, admissibility decisions ted to it for supervision of execution and to been published in the Bulletin of the Council 9 April 1997 and 31 August 1999 its decisions in the above-mentioned cases of Europe; Resolution ResDH (2001) 98, 23 July 2001 concerning Turkey; Having satisfied itself that on 2 June Article 6.1: friendly settlement Having regard to the Rules for the appli- 2000, within the time-limit set, the govern- cation of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Con- ment of the respondent state had paid the Bubilik v. Turkey vention; applicant the sums provided for in the judg- Appl. No. 24718/94, Commission decision Recalling that, in all these cases, the ment of 4 April 2000, 7 April 1997, Interim Resolution DH (2000) 24 Court or the Committee of Ministers have Declares, after having taken note of the Final Resolution ResDH (2001) 86, 23 July notably found that the criminal convictions information supplied by the Government of 2001 of the applicants, on account of statements Poland, that it has exercised its functions Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 contained in articles, books, leaflets or mes- under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Conven- sages addressed to, or prepared for, a public tion in this case. Gelgeç and Özdemir v. Turkey audience, had violated their freedom of ex- Violation of Art. 5-1 ; Pecuniary damage - claim Appl. No. 27700/95, admissibility decisions pression guaranteed by Article 10 of the Con- rejected ; Non-pecuniary damage - financial 13 May 1996 and 27 April 2000 vention; award ; Costs and expenses partial award - Resolution ResDH (2001) 150, 15 October Having been informed that a compre- Convention proceedings 2001 hensive programme of reforms has been Article 3: friendly settlement drawn up with a view to aligning, in the Portugal short-term, Turkish law and practice with the Kiliç Kalkan v. Turkey Convention’s requirements in the field of Barbosa Araujo v. Portugal Appl. No. 34687/96, admissibility decision freedom of expression, in order to prevent Appl. No. 39110/97, admissibility decision 5 December 2000 new violations similar to those found in 23 March 2000 Resolution ResDH (2001) 99, 23 July 2001 these cases; Resolution ResDH (2001) 146, 15 October Article 6.1: friendly settlement Considering however that, in most of 2001 these cases, the convictions are still in the Article 6.1: friendly settlement Ozcan v. Turkey criminal records of the applicants and restric- Appl. No. 31831/96, admissibility decisions tions of their civil and political rights remain Montez Champalimaud, Lda 9 April 1997 and 31 August 1999 in place; v. Portugal Resolution ResDH (2001) 100, 23 July 2001 Stressing the obligation of every State, Appl. No. 37722/97, admissibility decisions Article 6.1: friendly settlement under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Conven- 20 May 1998 and 13 January 2000 tion, to abide by the judgments of the Court, Resolution ResDH (2001) 147, 15 October Aksoy Ibrahim v. Turkey including the adoption of individual meas- 2001 Arslan v. Turkey ures putting an end to the violations found Article 6.1: friendly settlement Aslantaê v. Turkey and removing as far as possible their effects; Baêkaya et OkçuoÈlu v. Turkey Having regularly invited the Govern- Ribeiro Ferreira Ruah I v. Portugal Ceylan v. Turkey ment of Turkey, since it examined the first of Appl. No. 38327/97, admissibility decision ErdoÈdu v. Turkey these cases in 1998, to inform it of the meas- 9 March 2000 ErdoÈdu et Ince v. Turkey ures taken by the Turkish authorities in order Resolution ResDH (2001) 104, 23 July 2001 Gerger v. Turkey to comply with the above-mentioned obliga- Article 6.1: friendly settlement Incal v. Turkey tion; Karataê v. Turkey Noting that, according to the Turkish Slovakia OkçuoÈlu v. Turkey Government, a reform of the Code of Crimi- Özgür Gündem v. Turkey nal Procedure would be necessary to reopen Bánošová v. Slovakia Öztürk v. Turkey the impugned proceedings and redress the Appl. No. 38798/97, admissibility decisions Polat (E.P.) v. Turkey violations; 24 August 1999 and 27 April 2000 Ÿener v. Turkey Regretting that such a reform, an- Resolution ResDH (2001) 148, 15 October Sürek et Özdemir v. Turkey nounced in September 1999 by the Minister 2001 of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, is still not fore- Article 6.1: friendly settlement seen for the immediate future and that, as yet, no ad hoc measures have been taken

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 17 Council of Europe pending the adoption of the aforementioned remain granted in 1974. Payment of the just closed contrary to the interest of national se- reform; satisfaction took place on 5 February 1997, curity, the Special Immigration Appeals Com- Urges the Turkish authorities, without within the time-limit set. mission must satisfy itself that the material further delay, to take ad hoc measures allow- As an interim measure, the government available to it enables it properly to review ing the consequences of the applicants’ con- also ensured that the practice in deportation decisions. For this purpose, where it consid- victions contrary to the Convention in the cases was rapidly adapted to the require- ers it necessary for the appellant and his rep- above-mentioned cases to be rapidly and ments of Article 3 of the Convention as set resentative to be excluded from the proceed- fully erased and decides to resume consid- out in the Court’s judgment in the present ings, it shall, before it makes a eration of these cases at each of its meetings case. The judgment has also been published determination, give the appellant a summary until the adoption of the individual measures in different fora (e.g. (1996) 23 EHRR 413, The of the submissions and evidence received in required; Times Law Reports, etc.) his absence. Encourages the Turkish authorities to In order to ensure compliance with the The government finds that, after the bring to a successful conclusion the compre- requirements of Article 3 combined with Arti- entry into force of the new legislation, the hensive reforms planned to bring Turkish law cle 13, a number of legal amendments have Special Immigration Appeals Commission into conformity with the requirements of Arti- been introduced in the Special Immigration can consider the evidence on which the Sec- cle 10 of the Convention. Appeals Commission (SIAC) Act 1997, which retary of State based his decision that the came into force on 3 August 1998. This Act appellant constitutes a danger to national Turanli and Others, Topçu and Others, establishes a Special Immigration Appeals security and undertake an evaluation of the TirtiklioÈlu, Karaçelik and Others, Commission which is of a judicial nature and Article 3 risks. Furthermore, the new legisla- Karagöz, Duman and Akin v. Turkey is constituted on an ad hoc basis when cases tion offers sufficient procedural safeguards Appl. Nos. 26121/95 to 26127/95, Commission arise. It consists of thirteen members who for the new remedy to comply with Article 13 decision 7 April 1997, Interim Resolution DH are appointed by the Lord Chancellor as he of the Convention. (99) 472 may determine. Ten of them are legal mem- Moreover, the government points out Final Resolution ResDH (2001) 87, 23 July bers who retain the terms and conditions of that when a decision affecting in general a 2001 service relating to their judicial posts and person’s entitlement to enter or remain in Violations of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 three of them are lay members who are re- the United Kingdom is based on grounds quired to have experience of security matters other than national security, the Immigration V.N.K. and 44 others v. Turkey and are appointed for an initial three years’ and Asylum Act 1999 creates a new right of Appl. Nos. 29888/96, 29889/96, 29890/96, term which is renewable. It is duly consti- appeal to an adjudicator or the Immigration 29891/96, 29892/96, 29893/96, 29894/96, tuted if it consists of three members of Appeal Tribunal on human rights grounds. 29895/96 and 29896/96, admissibility decision whom at least one holds or has held high ju- This right is available against decisions which 29 February 2000 dicial office (within the meaning of the Ap- are alleged to be unlawful as incompatible Resolution ResDH (2001) 85, 23 July 2001 pellate Jurisdiction Act 1876), and at least with a Convention right under section 6 (1) of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1: friendly settlement one is or has been appointed as chief adjudi- the Human Rights Act 1998. The adjudicator cator under paragraph 1 of Schedule 5 to the or the Tribunal has the power to consider, United Kingdom Immigration Act 1971, or a member of the and allow the appeal on the basis of, any rel- Immigration Appeal Tribunal qualified as evant human rights issues which arise. The Ainsworth v. the United Kingdom mentioned in paragraph 7 of that Schedule. Act also confers jurisdiction on the Special Appl. No. 35095/97, admissibility decision The rules of procedure of this Commission Immigration Appeals Commission to con- 22 October 1998, Interim Resolution ResDH are determined by the Procedure Rules, sider human rights questions in appeals (2000) 85 which came into force on 31 July 1998. against decisions of the Secretary of State Final Resolution ResDH (2001) 121, Under the new Act, a person may appeal linked with the interest of the national secu- 15 October 2001 to the Special Immigration Appeals Commis- rity. A person will not be required to leave Violation of Article 6.1 sion against a decision to make a deportation the United Kingdom if an appeal on human order against him if the grounds of the deci- rights grounds is pending. It does not pre- Chahal v. the United Kingdom sion are that his deportation is conducive to vent the actual giving of directions for re- Appl. No. 22414/93, Commission decision the public good as being in the interest of moval or the making of a deportation order, 1 September 1994, Court judgment 15 Novem- national security. but such actions will not have effect during ber 1996 Appeals from the Special Immigration this period. Resolution ResDH (2001) 119, 15 October Appeals Commission can be made on a ques- As regards the issues raised under Arti- 2001 tion of law to the Court of Appeal. In a recent cle 5, paragraph 4, and Article 3 of the Con- Violation of Article 3; violation of Article 5.4; case the Court of Appeal has confirmed that vention, these have been solved by the violation of Article 13; no violation of Article the Commission has full “merits” review ju- Human Rights Act 1998, which came into 5.1; not necessary to examine Article 8; non- risdiction (i.e. on questions both of fact and force on October 2000 and incorporates the pecuniary damage – finding of violation of law) over the Home Secretary’s decisions European Convention on Human Rights in sufficient; costs and expenses partial award – in this field (Home Secretary v. Rehman the United Kingdom’s law, having as its main Convention proceedings (2000) 3 All ER 778). purpose the giving of further effect to rights The Procedure Rules include provision and freedoms guaranteed under the Conven- Appendix for the right of the appellant to be legally tion. The main elements of the Act are the to Resolution ResDH (2001) 119 represented and for a “special advocate” to following: be appointed to represent the interests of According to this Act, so far as possible, Information provided by the Government of the the appellant when the Secretary of State in- primary and subordinate legislation must be United Kingdom during the examination of the tends to oppose the appeal or to object to read and given effect in a way compatible Chahal case by the Committee of Ministers the disclosure of material to the appellant. In with the Convention rights. The Government of the United King- the last case, the Secretary of State must A court or tribunal determining a ques- dom recalls that, in order to give effect to the state the reasons for the objection and pro- tion which has arisen in connection with a judgment of the European Court of Human vide the appellant and the special advocate Convention right must take into account any Rights, the first applicant was released on 15 with a statement of that material in a form relevant judgment, decision, declaration or November 1996 and his deportation order which can be shown to the appellant. These advisory opinion of the European Court, the revoked. He has remained in the United King- rules also provide that, despite its general former European Commission of Human dom on the basis of the indefinite leave to duty to secure that information is not dis- Rights or the Committee of Ministers of the

18 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Council of Europe. Certain superior courts sion) by the Special Immigration Appeals Appendix may make a declaration of incompatibility Commission on the basis of the risks of treat- to Resolution ResDH (2001) 120 with a Convention right, in respect of a provi- ment contrary to Article 3 and without refer- sion of primary or secondary legislation (this ence to other considerations such as national Information provided by the Government of the declaration not affecting the validity of the security. United Kingdom during the examination of the legislation and not binding the parties to the As to the violation of Article 5, para- McGonnell case by the Committee of Ministers relevant proceedings). graph 4, of the Convention, the proceedings The Royal Court in Guernsey adopted a It is also unlawful for a public authority for habeas corpus and for judicial review of the Practice Direction No. 1 of 2001 formalising (a court or tribunal and any person with func- decision to detain pending deportation are and extending the recent informal practice as tions of a public nature) to act in a way in- subject to the provisions of Human Rights regards administrative proceedings after the compatible with a Convention right. Act: the detained person is entitled to a re- judgment of the European Court of Human The victim of such an unlawful act may view of his or her detention in the light of the Rights in this case with effect from 31 May either bring proceedings against the author- Convention and therefore these proceedings 2000, the Bailiff is no longer either the Presi- ity in the appropriate court or tribunal or rely must provide an adequate control of the con- dent or a member of three committees, on the right or rights concerned in any legal ditions which are essential for “lawful” de- namely the Appointments Board, the Legisla- proceedings. Furthermore, the Human tention under Article 5, paragraph 4, of the tion Committee and the Rules of Procedure Rights Act 1998 enables the jurisdiction of Convention and particularly if it is justified Committee. any tribunal to be extended by order to allow on national security grounds. It mentions in At the same time, at the commence- it to provide an appropriate remedy in rela- addition that the Special Immigration Ap- ment of the hearing of any administrative tion to an act of a public authority which is peals Commission has a bail jurisdiction in proceedings, Counsel for all parties will be unlawful. Damages may be awarded if the cases where a person is detained in the inter- required to state whether their respective cli- court is satisfied that the award is necessary est of national security. ents have any objection to the presiding to afford just satisfaction to the person in The Government of the United King- judge sitting in that particular case, and if so, whose favour it is made. Proceedings against dom considers that the measures taken will the grounds for such objection. It is, there- a judicial act may be brought by exercising a prevent the repetition of any new violations fore, incumbent upon Counsel prior to the right of appeal, on application for judicial re- similar to those found in this case and that hearing to have obtained full instructions in view or in a forum prescribed by rules. In the United Kingdom has therefore fulfilled its this regard. these proceedings, the Act provides ex- obligations under former Article 53 of the To enable Counsel to obtain satisfactory pressly a right for compensation under Arti- Convention. instructions, the presiding judge will inform cle 5, paragraph 5, of the Convention. Finally, them in writing, prior to the hearing, of the it enables the amendment by order of a pro- Downing v. the United Kingdom judge’s recollection of this previous involve- vision of legislation which, in view of a find- Appl. No. 36525/97, admissibility decision ment, in any way, in the issues to be consid- ing of the European Court, appears to a Min- 29 June 1999 ered or determined by the Court. ister to be incompatible with the Resolution ResDH (2001) 105, 23 July 2001 The Government of the United King- Convention, so as to remove the incompat- Article 5: friendly settlement dom also informed the Committee of Minis- ibility. ters’ that the judgment of the European As regards specifically the violation of McGonnell v. the United Kingdom Court had been transmitted to all authorities Article 3 of the Convention, this Act follows Appl. No. 28488/95, Commission decision directly concerned, apart from a large diffu- up and completes the interim measures 22 January 1998, Court judgment 8 February sion notably in the local press (the Guernsey taken immediately after the European 2000 Globe and Guernsey Press) as well as in widely Court’s judgment. After its entry into force, Resolution ResDH (2001) 120, 15 October distributed series of law reports. where a deportation case raises an issue 2001 The government considers, in view of under Article 3 of the Convention, the issue Preliminary objection rejected (estoppel); these measures, that it has met its obliga- is considered by the Secretary of State and violation of Article 6.1; non-pecuniary damage tions under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the (in the event of an appeal against his deci- – finding of violation sufficient Convention.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 19 Council of Europe Law and policy: intergovernmental co-operation in the human rights field

One of the Council of Europe’s vital tasks in the field of human rights is the creation of legal policies and instruments. In this, the Steering Committee on Human Rights (CDDH) plays an important role. The CDDH is the principal intergovernmental organ answerable to the Com- mittee of Ministers in this area, and to its different expert committees.

Committee of Experts of imminent threat of war. It also finalised a draft explanatory for the Development report. It is expected that the CDDH will be able to examine these texts in November 2001 with a view to their possible of Human Rights (DH-DEV) approval and transmission to the Committee of Ministers. The DH-DEV also held an exchange of views with the At its 28th meeting, the DH-DEV finalised its drafting expert consultant who was preparing a feasibility study on the work on a new protocol to the European Convention on question of the protection of human rights during armed Human Rights excluding the possibility of maintaining the conflict as well as during internal disturbances and tensions as death penalty in respect of acts committed in time of war or a result of terrorist acts. The Committee expressed the wish to resume consideration of the issue, once the CDDH has taken a position on the follow-up to be given to the study. The actors

a steering committee Reflection Group on the The CDDH, Steering Committee for Human Reinforcement of the Human Rights Rights, is the intergovernmental co-operation body in Protection Mechanism (CDDH-GR) charge of the Committee of Ministers’ policy imple- mentation in the human rights field. It has a bureau, The Reflection Group, set up by the Steering Commit- the CDDH-BU, a Reflection Group, the CDDH-GR, and tee for Human Rights (CDDH) following the Rome European smaller, more specialised sub-committees. Ministerial Conference on Human Rights (November 2000), met three times during the year. It prepared an Activity the committees of experts Report, containing a list of proposals/ideas which were Some of these sub-committees have long-term retained as a result of its work. mandates which are regularly renewed. For example: The CDDH transmitted this report, for consideration, • the DH-DEV, Committee of Experts for the to the Evaluation Group which was set up by the Ministers’ Development of Human Rights Deputies in February 2001 to make proposals on the means • the DH-PR, Committee of Experts for the of guaranteeing the continued effectiveness of the European Improvement of Procedures for the Protection Court of Human Rights. of Human Rights. The Evaluation Group published its report in which it calls on member states to take immediate and urgent action the groups of specialists in order to safeguard the Court’s credibility and authority, Other sub-committees are of a less permanent including: nature; they are dissolved once their particular – effective measures at national level, given the subsidi- function has been fulfilled. Ad hoc sub-committees: ary role of the Strasbourg Court • the DH-S-AC, Group of Specialists on Access – prompt and full execution of the Court’s judgments to Official Information. and – substantial increase in staff and resources for the working groups Court as well as more staff for the supervision of The CDDH also sets up working groups, mainly execution of judgments. to advance work on a particular item of the agenda The Group also recommends amending the European in the period between any two plenary meetings. Convention on Human Rights, inter alia, to permit the Court

20 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe not to undertake a detailed examination of applications The Secretariat of the Human Rights Law and Policy Division which raise no substantial issue. prepared, in English and French, an updated version of a The full report of the Evaluation Group (to which the document prepared in 1998 (H (98) 6). report of the Reflection Group is appended) is available to the public and can be found on the Committee of Ministers web Proceedings of the 6th Round Table with the European site (http://www.coe.int/cm/). Ombudsmen (Malta, 7-9 October 1998) The Committee of Ministers will take first decisions H (98) 19 following the report of the Evaluation Group in its session on Published in November 2001, in English and French. The 8 November 2001. themes addressed were: the rights of refugees and asylum- seekers; the rights of persons deprived of their liberty; co- Publications operation between Ombudsmen of member states and between them and the Council of Europe, particularly in the The contribution of the Council of Europe to the UN light of new developments in the human rights mechanisms Secretary General’s report on progress made to the of the Council of Europe. implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Pro- gramme of Action, after the World Conference in 1993 H (2001) 5

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 21 Council of Europe European Social Charter

The 1961 European Social Charter, supplemented by the 1996 revised Social Charter, is a complementary text to the European Convention on Human Rights in the field of social rights.

Thirty member states are bound by either the Social Charter – revealed situations not in conformity with the Charter or the Revised Social Charter: Austria, Belgium, the Charter in all six countries. Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hun- The Committee also welcomed moves by Cyprus, gary, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Luxembourg and Turkey to put right problems that Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, have been criticised in the past. Cyprus, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova, Amongst problems highlighted by the Committee Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. were: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, • Cyprus: the possibility of court-ordered reinstate- Georgia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Russian Federation, San ment for women unlawfully dismissed does not cover Marino, Switzerland, “the former Yugoslav Republic of enterprises with less than twenty employees. Macedonia” and Ukraine have signed the 1961 Charter or the • Germany: there are still complex formalities for the 1996 revised Charter, although they have not yet ratified. delivery and renewal of work permits and residence permits For further information see the “Simplified chart of for nationals of states party to the Charter but not members signatures and ratifications of European human rights of the European Union. treaties”, p. 38. • Luxembourg: the length of working time provided for by law during the reference period was excessive. • Malta: compulsory postnatal leave is not adequate European Committee of Social Rights in light of the Charter; some groups of workers (workers related to their employer, part-time workers) are not pro- The ECSR is a committee of independent experts that tected against dismissal during maternity leave. assesses conformity of national situations with the European • Slovakia: the concept of equal pay for work of equal Social Charter and the revised European Social Charter. value is not expressly incorporated into national law; Slovak The ECSR’s work entails examining reports submitted law sets a very low resources ceiling for the payment of by states who have ratified one of the two treaties and of family benefits, with the result that a manifestly inadequate examining collective complaints presented by trade unions, number of persons are entitled to it. This effectively negates employers organisations and NGOs in application of the 1995 the very existence of the family branch of social security. Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints. • Turkey: during the reference period (1995-1998), a Two sessions were held in Strasbourg during the substantial number of children worked in certain sectors of period under review: the economy and did not attend school; the manifest inad- – 179th session: 10-14 September 2001; equacy of the health service budget, as well as the inad- – 180th session: 15-19 October 2001. equacy in equipment and staffing levels are such that the New members elected by the Committee of Ministers population, and in particular children, does not have access on 4 July 2001 are: to a good level of health in all parts of the country; the – Mr K. Grillberger (Austrian) (Vice-President), minimum length of prison sentences for young offenders, in – Mrs P. Koncar (Slovenian), the case of serious offences, is excessive. – Mr G. Quinn (Irish). The Committee welcomed improvements in Cyprus where a law passed on 9 July 1999 extended the ban on night Examination of national reports work by young persons in industry to all sectors; in Germany, where differences in treatment between children born within Cycle XVI-1: The ECSR began its assessment of or outside marriage have been abolished; in Luxembourg, national reports under the first part of the new cycle which where a law passed on 7 July 1998 prevents dismissal during concerns the hard core provisions. First reports being maternity leave; in Turkey where the length of compulsory examined in respect of the revised Charter were submitted by schooling was lengthened to eight years in 1997. France, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. The text of Examination by the Committee of Social Rights, these reports can be found on the Social Charter Internet composed of independent experts, is the first phase of the site: www.esc.coe.int. monitoring process carried out to make sure countries On 10 July 2001, the European Committee of Social respect their Social Charter commitments. Rights published conclusions for Cyprus, Germany, Luxem- The text of the conclusions, a summary of the bourg, Malta, Turkey and, for the first time, Slovakia. situation in each country and a full explanation of the process The monitoring exercise – part of regular procedures are also available on the Internet site: www.humanrights.coe. carried out to make sure that countries respect the Social int/cseweb

22 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Collective complaints Conferences, seminars, meetings, workshops, training programmes During their 99th meeting held from 22-26 October 2001, the Governmental Committee of the European Social • Conference (Barcelona, 31 July-4 August 2001) Charter reviewed the matter of renewing the names of those Aspects of the Charter were presented at the 14th organisations entered on the list of NGOs entitled to submit Biennial Conference of the World Council for gifted and collective complaints who had been on the list for four years. talented children, an event co-organised by the NGO Furthermore, during the same meeting, the Commit- EUROTALENT which holds consultative status with the tee agreed to admit a new NGO onto the collective com- Council of Europe and appears on the list of NGOs entitled to plaints list bringing the present total to 51. submit collective complaints. • Seminar (Vilnius, 4-5 October 2001) Decisions Following ratification of the revised Charter, a seminar was held in Vilnius to provide ministry officials with informa- At the ECSR’s 180th session, the ECSR adopted its tion and assistance in the preparation of Lithuania’s first decision on the merits of complaint No. 10/2000, Tehy ry and national report. STTK ry v. Finland and transmitted to the Committee of Ministers in a report. During the same meeting, the ECSR declared Com- plaint No. 11/2001 lodged by the European Council of Police Trade Unions v. Portugal admissible. This complaint had been registered on 18 July 2001.

Publications 40th anniversary • The European Social Charter – A treaty of the of the European Social Council of Europe that protects Human Rights (Available in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese Charter and Russian) A ceremony in honour of the 40th • Monograph No. 5: The right to organise and to anniversary of the European Social Charter bargain collectively (2nd edition) – Study drawn up on the basis of the case law of was held in Strasbourg on 18 October 2001. the European Social Charter This official occasion, brought together (available in English only) Committee members, representatives of the 92-871-4707-8 European Court of Human Rights, Parliamen- • Monograph No. 10: tary Assembly and Committee of Ministers. The compilation of first state The occasion was marked by the signature, by reports on the implementa- Armenia, Azerbaijan and San Marino of the tion of the European Social revised European Social Charter. This histori- Charter, Proceedings, Stras- bourg, 6-8 September 1999 cal event thus took on particular significance (available in English and French) as the addition of these three signatures 92-871-4632-2 brought the number of signatory states to the 1961 Charter or the revised Charter to 43, in • Monograph No. 11: The protection of fundamen- other words the full complement of Council of tal social rights in Europe through the European Social Europe member states. Charter, Proceedings, Sofia (Bulgaria), 5-7 July 2000 (available in English and French) 92-871-4620-9

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 23 Council of Europe European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

European Committee for the – Vlora Psychiatric Hospital Prevention of Torture and Inhuman The delegation also went to the medical service and remand section of Prison No. 313, as well as to the Prison or Degrading Treatment or Hospital, in Tirana, in order to gather further information Punishment (CPT) relating to deprivation of liberty by the police. “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” The European Committee for the Prevention of (21 to 26 October 2001) Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment A delegation of the CPT has recently carried out a six- (CPT) was set up under the 1987 European Convention for day ad hoc visit to “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedo- the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treat- nia”. The visit began on 21 October 2001. It was the ment or Punishment. It is composed of persons from a variety Committee’s second visit to “the former Yugoslav Republic of of backgrounds: lawyers, medical doctors, prison experts, Macedonia”1. persons with parliamentary experience, etc. The CPT’s task is In the course of its visit, the delegation met Ilinka to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. Mitreva, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, as well as senior For this purpose, it is entitled to visit any place where such officials from the Ministries of Justice, the Interior, and persons are held by a public authority; apart from periodic Foreign Affairs. It also met three judges from the Supreme visits, the Committee also organises visits which appear to it Court – Fidanco Stoev, Liljana Ristova-Ingilizova, and to be required in the circumstances (i.e. ad hoc visits). The Aleksandar Bošnjakovski – as well as the Prosecutor-General, CPT may formulate recommendations to strengthen, if Stavre Dûikov. necessary, the protection of persons deprived of their liberty The principal purpose of the visit was to examine the against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by the law punishment. enforcement agencies (Ministry of the Interior), an issue Between 1 July and 31 October 2001 the CPT carried which had recently been the subject of close consultations out visits to places and published reports as detailed below. between the CPT and the national authorities. The delegation visited several police establishments and also interviewed Visits many persons who had recently been in police custody. In addition, the delegation reviewed specific police-related Albania issues which had been the subject of recommendations (22 to 26 October 2001) following the CPT’s first visit to “the former Yugoslav Repub- A delegation of the CPT has recently carried out a five- lic of Macedonia”, and examined the efficacy of existing legal day ad hoc visit to Albania. It was the Committee’s fourth remedies in cases involving allegations of ill-treatment. visit to Albania. The delegation visited the following establishments In the course of its visit, the CPT’s delegation met under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior: Sokol Azizi, Deputy Minister of Justice, Petrit Vasili, Deputy – Ko¹ani Police Station Minister of Health, Fatmir Brahimi, Director General of – Kumanovo Police Station Hospitals, and Bilbil Memi, Director General of the Police. The – Bit Pazar Police Station, Skopje delegation held also talks with Arben Rakipi, Prosecutor – ‡air Police Station, Skopje General, and Ermir Dobjani, Ombudsman. – Centar Police Station, Skopje The aim of the visit was, on one hand, to examine the – Gazi Baba Police Station, Skopje implementation in practice of the recommendations concern- – Karpoš Police Station, Skopje ing Vlora Psychiatric Hospital made by the CPT after its – Kisela Voda Police Station, Skopje December 2000 periodic visit and, on the other hand, to – Štip Police Station examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by – Tetovo Police Station law enforcement agencies. For this purpose, the delegation The delegation also went to the remand sections of visited several police establishments and also interviewed a Skopje and Štip Prisons in order to gather further information great number of persons who had recently been in police relating to deprivation of liberty by the police. custody. In addition, the delegation reviewed specific police- related issues which had been the subject of recommenda- tions following the December 2000 visit. The delegation visited the following establishments: – Police Stations Nos. 1, 3 and 4, Tirana 1. The report on the CPT's first visit to “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (17 to 28 May 1998) and the Govern- – Vlora Police Station ment’s responses were published on 11 October 2001.

24 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Romania – Piraeus Transfer Centre (22 to 26 October 2001) – Athens Airport Police Station A delegation of the CPT recently carried out a five-day Crete visit to Romania. It was the Committee’s third visit to – Iraklion Regional Police Headquarters Romania. – Iraklion Security Subdirectorate The purpose of the visit was to examine the situation – Agia Varvara Police Station of children placed by public authorities in centres run by the – Agios Myronas Police Station National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption and by – Chersonissos Police Station the State Secretariat for Handicapped Persons. – Myres Police Station The delegation visited the following places: – Iraklion Airport Police Station Constanta Region – Khania Police Headquarters – Placement Centre for Handicapped Children, Negru North-West Greece Voda – Igoumenitsa Police Headquarters Vaslui Region – Kastoria Police Headquarters – Giurcani Placement Centre – Kozani Police Headquarters – Husi Placement Centre – Kristalopigi Police Station and Border Guard Post During the visit, the CPT’s delegation held discussions – Mesopotamia Border Guard Post with Rodica Mihaela Stanoiu, Minister for Justice and Ioan Establishments under the authority of the Ministry of Alexandru, Secretary of State for Justice, Vali Botezatu, Merchant Marine Under-Secretary of State for Child Protection and Adoption, – Iraklion Port Police Station Ioan Buraga, Deputy Director General of Medical Assistance, – Piraeus Port Police Station Ministry of Health and Family, Mihaela Alexe, Counsellor at Establishments under the authority of the Ministry of the State Secretariat for Handicapped Persons and Liliana Finance Preotesa, Director General for primary and secondary – Kristalopigi Customs Detention Facilities Education, Ministry of Education and Research. • Prisons Greece – Alicarnassos Prison, Iraklion (23 September to 7 October 2001) – Khania Prison A delegation of the CPT carried out a two-week visit – Korydallos Prison Complex (Prison for men, and to Greece. The visit was carried out within the framework of General and Psychiatric Hospitals) the CPT’s programme of periodic visits for the year 2001. It – Malandrino Prison was the Committee’s third periodic visit to Greece. In the course of this visit, the CPT’s delegation held • Military Establishments consultations with Michalis Stathopoulos, Minister for – Disciplinary detention facilities at the Infantry Cadet Justice, Prodromos Asemiades, General Secretary of the Officer Academy, Iraklion Ministry of Justice and Demetris Efstathiades, General – Disciplinary detention facilities at the 15th Brigade Secretary of the Ministry of Public Order. The delegation also of the Army, Kastoria. met George Kaminis, Deputy Ombudsman responsible for Slovenia human rights. (16 to 27 September 2001) The CPT’s delegation reviewed developments con- The visit was carried out within the framework of the cerning the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty by CPT’s programme of periodic visits for the year 2001. It was law enforcement agencies and conditions of detention in the Committee’s second periodic visit to Slovenia, the prison. It paid particular attention to the situation of persons previous visit having taken place in 19951. held under aliens legislation. In the course of this second visit, the CPT’s delegation The delegation visited the following places: held consultations with Rado Bohinc, Minister of Interior, Ivan • Law enforcement agencies Bizjak, Minister of Justice and Dušan Keber, Minister of Establishments under the authority of the Ministry of Health. The delegation also met Dušan Valentin¹i¹, Director Public Order of the Prison Administration, Andrej Anûi¹, Deputy Director Attica Region General of the Police, Luj Šprohar, Director of the Office for ¦ ¹ – Attica and Athens Police Headquarters the Disabled and Chronically Ill, and arko Bogunovi , Acting – Kypseli Police Station, Athens Director of the Office for Immigration and Refugees. Further, û û – Piraeus Police Headquarters it had a meeting with the Ombudsman, Matja Han ek. – Drapetzona Police Station, Piraeus In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation – Nikea Police Station, Piraeus followed up a number of issues examined during the first – Amigdaleza Holding Centre for Aliens visit concerning, in particular, the treatment and conditions – Hellenikon Holding Centre for Aliens of detention of persons in police custody and in prison. – Piraeus Holding Centre for Aliens Issues tackled for the first time in Slovenia included the – Athens Transfer Centre

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 25 Council of Europe situation of persons held under aliens legislation and the grammes for prisoners held in such establishments. Another treatment of persons placed in psychiatric institutions. issue focussed upon by the delegation was the treatment of The delegation visited the following places: juveniles, in both reformatories and closed prison establish- Ï • Police establishments ments. Further, a follow-up visit was made to Imral Prison – Celje Police Station (first visited in March 1999) in order to review the conditions – Police Detention Facility, Ljubljanska Street, Celje of detention of Abdullah Öcalan, the establishment’s sole – Gornja Radgona Police Station inmate. – Ilirska Bistrica Police Station The delegation visited the following places: – Ljubljana-Beûigrad Police Station • Law enforcement agencies – Ljubljana-Center Police Station – AÈri Police Headquarters – Ljubljana-Polje Police Station – Ankara Police Headquarters – Ljubljana-Vi¹ Police Station – Edirne Police Headquarters – Police Detention Facility, Povšetova Street, Ljubljana – ElâziÈ Police Headquarters – Maribor I Police Station – Erzurum Police Headquarters – Murska Sobota Police Station – Istanbul Police Headquarters – Novo Mesto Police Station – Ÿanliurfa Police Headquarters – Ptuj Police Station – TekirdaÈ Police Headquarters – Rogaška Slatina Border Police Station – Van Police Headquarters – Šentilj Border Police Station – Provincial Gendarmerie Headquarters, ElâziÈ – Detention Centre for Foreigners (COT), Ljubljana – Provincial Gendarmerie Headquarters, Van – Detention Centre for Foreigners (COT), Postojna – Various district and local police and gendarmerie È • Prisons establishments in Elâzi , Çervas, Istanbul, Patnos, Ÿ – Dob Prison anliurfa, Sivrice and Suruç – Ljubljana Prison – Detention facilities at the Kapikule border post – Maribor Prison – Detention facilities at Istanbul International Airport Psychiatric establishments • Prisons – Hrastovec-Trate Institute for the Treatment of – ImralÏ Prison Ÿ • Mental and Nervous Disorders – anliurfa Prison – Psychiatric Department of Maribor General Hospital. – Sincan F-type Prison – TekirdaÈ F-type Prison No. I Turkey • Reformatories (2 to 16 September 2001) – Ankara Reformatory for Juveniles A delegation of the CPT has recently carried out a – ElâziÈ Reformatory for Juveniles. two-week periodic visit to Turkey. The visit started simultane- The delegation also went to the following establish- ously in Ankara and Istanbul on Sunday, 2 September 2001. It ments, in order to interview certain categories of prisoners was the Committee’s twelfth visit to Turkey. (in particular new arrivals, juveniles and women): In the course of the visit, the CPT’s delegation met Mr – ElâziÈ Prison Hikmet Sami Türk, Minister for Justice, Mr Rüêtü Kazim – ElmadaÈ Prison for Juveniles Yücelen, Minister for the Interior, and Mr Nejat Arseven, – Istanbul Prison and Detention House (Bayrampaêa) Minister of State responsible for Human Rights. Further, it – Metris Prison (Istanbul) held consultations with senior officials from the Ministries of – Sivrice District Prison Justice, the Interior, Foreign Affairs, National Defence and – Üsküdur PaêakapÏsÏ Prison and Detention House Health. Discussions were also held with members of the (Istanbul) Human Rights Association in Ankara, as well as with repre- – Van Prison. sentatives of the Association’s branches in Elâzig, Istanbul, Ÿanliurfa and Van. Spain The delegation reviewed the treatment and physical (22 to 26 July 2001) conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty A delegation of the CPT recently carried out a the by law enforcement agencies, including persons held under Committee’s seventh visit to Spain. aliens legislation. It also visited two F-type prisons, in order In the course of its visit, the CPT’s delegation met to examine the implementation of communal activity pro- Pedro Morenes Eulate, Secretary of State for Security, and Eugenio Lopez Alvarez, Technical General Secretary, and other senior officials from the Ministry of the Interior. The main purpose of the visit was to examine the efficacy in practice of the formal legal safeguards against ill- 1. The CPT’s report on its first visit to Slovenia, as well as the treatment which are available to persons deprived of their response of the Slovenian authorities, have been made public at liberty by the law enforcement agencies in Spain. The the request of the Slovenian Government. These documents can delegation reviewed the action being taken by the Spanish be consulted on the CPT’s website or obtained from the CPT’s Secretariat. authorities to implement the CPT’s recommendations on this

26 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe subject. It also examined the internal accountability proce- committee publishes reports suggesting improvements and dures of the National Police and the Civil Guard in cases laying down standards. involving allegations of ill-treatment by members of those Of interest to all those who actively wish to prevent agencies. Further, the delegation interviewed a number of torture and ill-treatment, in particular NGO workers, legal persons recently detained by the National Police and the Civil practitioners, officials (police officers, penal administrators, Guard on suspicion of terrorist-related offences. immigration personnel, psychiatric hospital directors, etc.) and human rights campaigners, this publication will provide a Publication of CPT reports fascinating insight into a relatively secret institution, as well as an up-to-date account of the standards which have been Under Article 11 of the European Convention for the developed. Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or The authors, Rod Morgan and Malcolm Evans, Profes- Punishment, the information gathered by the Committee in relation sor of Criminal Justice and Professor of International Law at to a visit, its report and its consultations with the State concerned Bristol University (UK) respectively, are leading experts in this are confidential. However, the State may agree to lift the rule of field. confidentiality. 92-871-4614-4 The Government of Lithuania has agreed to the (available in English only – publication of the report of the CPT on the visit in February French version due April 2002) 2000 and of its responses (CPT/Inf (2001) 22) [EN] et (CPT/Inf (2001) 23) [EN]. The Government of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Members of the CPT Macedonia” has agreed to the publication of the report of the CPT on the visit in May 1998 and of its responses (CPT/Inf at 31 October 2001 (2001) 20) [EN] and (CPT/Inf (2001) 21) [EN]. The Greek Government has agreed to the publication of the reports of the Council of Europe’s CPT on its visits Several elections of CPT members were held between from 4 to 6 November 1996, 25 May to 6 June 1997 and 26 1 July and 31 October 2001 in respect of the following states: October to 2 November 1999, and of the Government’s the Netherlands and Switzerland, Austria and Denmark, responses (CPT/Inf (2001) 17) [EN], (CPT/Inf (2001) 18) [EN] Hungary and the United Kingdom. and (CPT/Inf (2001) 19) [EN]. The Portuguese Government has requested the A full list of members of the CPT is available on the publication of the report of the CPT on its visit in April 1999 Internet site. and of its responses (CPT/Inf (2001) 12) [EN], (CPT/Inf (2001) 13) [FR] and (CPT/Inf (2001) 14) [FR]. The French Government has agreed to the publication Internet site: http://www.cpt.coe.int/ of the report of the CPT on the visit in May 2000 and of its response (CPT/Inf (2001) 10) [FR] and (CPT/Inf (2001) 11) [FR]. Stop press New from Council of Europe Publishing « On 10 July 2001, The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treat- “Combating torture in Europe” – the work and standards ment or Punishment (CPT) issued a public statement concern- of the European Committee for the Prevention of ing the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation. This Torture (CPT) statement is appended to the present Bulletin (see page 53) and can be found on the CPT’s site: http://www.cpt.coe.int/en/ This book provides a clear press/20010710en.htm. and comprehensive insight into the « On 6 November 2001, Ukraine ratified Protocols Nos. 1 valuable work carried out by one of and 2 to the European Convention for the Prevention of the Council’s highly influential yet – Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. of necessity given the confidentiality These ratifications will allow the entry into force of both rule which applies to it – rather self- Protocols, on 1 March 2002. Issue No. 55 of the Human Rights effacing, non-judicial mechanism. Information Bulletin will provide more detailed related Since its inception in 1989, special- information. ist members of the committee « For further information concerning signatures and (doctors, lawyers, etc.) have visited ratifications related to the European Convention for the places of detention, prisons and Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or psychiatric hospitals throughout Punishment see the “Simplified chart of signatures and Europe to monitor the living ratifications of European human rights treaties”, p. 38. conditions (hygiene, provision of food and drink, health care, etc.) of those being detained. Following these visits the

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 27 Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

About the Framework Convention monitoring process in the form of country-specific conclu- sions and recommendations. Unless the Committee of The Framework Convention is the first legally binding Ministers decides otherwise in a particular case, the opinions, multilateral instrument concerned with the protection of conclusions and recommendations are all published at the national minorities in general. Adopted by the Council of same time. Europe in 1995, the Framework Convention entered into Nevertheless, state Parties may publish the opinion force on 1 February 1998. As at 31 October 2001, it had been concerning them, together with their written comments if signed by 39 of the 43 member states, 32 of which had also they so wish, even before adoption of the respective conclu- ratified it. Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic sions and possible recommendations by the Committee of of Yugoslavia, which are not Council of Europe member Ministers. states, acceded to the Framework Convention in 2000 and As at 31 October 2001, the Advisory Committee had 2001 respectively. During the reference period, Belgium received 25 state reports and already adopted 13 opinions, signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of two of them, in respect of Estonia and Italy, adopted on 14 National Minorities, on 1 August 2001. September 2001, during its 11th plenary meeting (for details The Framework Convention’s aim is to protect see: http://www. humanrights.coe.int/Minorities/). All these national minorities within the respective territories of the opinions have been forwarded to the Committee of Minis- parties. The Convention seeks to promote the full and ters. effective equality of national minorities by creating appropri- On 31 October the Committee of Ministers adopted ate conditions enabling them to preserve and develop their and made public its first conclusions and recommendations culture and to retain their identity, whilst fully respecting the in respect of Denmark and Finland. principles of territorial integrity and political independence of States. The principles contained in the Framework Conven- tion have to be implemented through national legislation and Stability Pact for South-Eastern appropriate governmental policies. Europe The Convention sets out principles to be respected as well as goals to be achieved by the Contracting Parties, in Three projects with a bearing on national minorities order to ensure the protection of persons belonging to were launched at the end of 2000 in the framework of the national minorities. The substantive provisions of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. They focus on Framework Convention cover a wide range of issues, inter building the principle of non-discrimination into national alia: non-discrimination, the promotion of effective equality; legislation, policy and practice, recognition and implementa- the promotion of the conditions necessary for the preserva- tion of existing standards relating to national minorities, and tion and development of the culture and preservation of bilateral co-operation agreements as a tool for promoting religion, language and traditions; freedoms of assembly, good ethnic relations. association, expression, thought, conscience and religion; Examples of activities carried out in this context access to, and use of, media; freedoms relating to language, (1 July-31 October 2001): education and transfrontier contacts; participation in eco- • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Belgrade, 5-6 July nomic, cultural and social life; participation in public life and 2001: Regional Ministerial Conference on National and prohibition of forced assimilation. Ethnic Communities and Minorities in South Eastern Monitoring of the implementation of the Framework Europe – Domestic and Regional Confidence-Building; Convention takes place on the basis of state reports due • Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 17-18 September every five years. The Committee of Ministers may in the 2001: Expert meeting on the drafting of Bosnia and interim also request ad hoc reports. State reports are made Herzegovina report on the application of the Frame- public by the Council of Europe upon receipt. They are work Convention, in co-operation with the Ministry examined first by the Advisory Committee of 18 independent for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and experts, which may also receive information from other Herzegovina; sources, as well as actively seek additional information and • Albania, Tirana, 18-19 October 2001: Seminar on the have meetings with governments and others. implementation of the Framework Convention, in co- The Advisory Committee adopts opinions on each of operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the the state reports, which it transmits to the Committee of Republic of Albania and the Council of Europe Tirana Ministers. The latter body takes the final decisions in the Office.

28 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Co-operation activities in the field of tion on the measures taken in this field by Liechtenstein and the protection of national minorities Hungary were made public on the initiative of the States concerned. The publication of these opinions follow on from • Strasbourg, 13-16 September 2001: Training seminar those on Slovakia and Finland in July 2001. on the Framework Convention, in co-operation with They contain a legal assessment of the adequacy of Minority Rights Group International. the measures taken by Liechtenstein and Hungary to comply with the Framework Convention. Publication of first opinions on the protection of national minorities by Liechtenstein Slovakia and Finland In its opinion on Liechtenstein, the Advisory Commit- On 6 July 2001 two opinions of the Advisory Commit- tee notes Liechtenstein’s declaration that there are no tee of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the national minorities on its territory and recognises that the Protection of National Minorities on measures taken in this potential for applying some provisions of the Framework field by Slovakia and Finland were made public at the coun- Convention in Liechtenstein was rather limited. tries’ request. This is the first time that such opinions have been made public. The opinions assess, from the legal standpoint, how Hungary well the measures taken by Finland and Slovakia meet the Framework Convention’s requirements. With regard to Hungary, the opinion notes that particularly commendable efforts have been made to Slovakia protect national minorities, especially through the establish- ment of a system of minority self-government and an The opinion on Slovakia states that appreciable efforts education system for the minorities. Much nonetheless have been made to support minorities and their cultures and remains to be done to complete the legal and institutional that there has been significant progress in intercommunity framework and fully ensure that the standards set are relations, in particular between the Hungarian minority and applied in practice. The opinion notes that the situation of the rest of the population. Nonetheless, legal guarantees in the Roma gives rise to deep concern, notably regarding respect of a number of the Framework Convention’s clauses numerous acts of discrimination against them, still wide- needed reinforcing, and in several fields where guarantees spread negative social perceptions and significant differ- were legally satisfactory, greater efforts were needed to ences in socio-economic and living conditions between ensure they were fully put into effect. Discrimination against Roma and the remaining population. the Roma in various fields and their treatment by the police The opinions, their executive summaries and the remained worrying. comments of the governments concerned can be consulted on the Internet Finland The opinion on Finland praises the efforts that have Contact been made on behalf of Swedish-speaking Finns and the efforts to improve protection for the Sami. However, it Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the expresses concern at de facto discrimination against the Roma Protection of National Minorities Directorate General of and observes that protection of the Russian-speaking Human Rights – DG II (e-mail: [email protected], tel. population is not totally satisfactory. + 33 3 90 21 44 33, fax: + 33 3 90 21 49 18). The opinions and government comments are available The website of the Framework Convention Secretariat on the Internet. (http://www.humanrights.coe.int/Minorities/), launched in May 2000, contains complete information on the Convention and monitoring of it, including state reports in full and news Publication of opinions on the items related to the Convention. protection of national minorities by For further information concerning signatures and Liechtenstein and Hungary ratifications related to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities see the “Simplified chart of On 17 September 2001, two opinions of the Advisory signatures and ratifications of European human rights Committee on the Council of Europe’s Framework Conven- treaties”, p. 38.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 29 Council of Europe Media

At the heart of the Council of Europe’s democratic construction lies freedom of expression, which forms an essential part of the structure. Responsibility for maintaining it is in the hands of the Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM), which aims at promoting free, inde- pendent and pluralist media, so safeguarding the proper functioning of a democratic society.

Steering Committee on the Mass mediation and arbitration. The text stresses the importance Media (CDMM) of pan-European and international co-operation to counter- act the dissemination of illegal and harmful content, such as On the initiative of the CDMM, the Committee of pornography, violent and racist content and content harmful Ministers adopted on 5 September 2001 two Recommenda- to minors. tions concerning illegal or harmful content on the Internet Recommendation Rec (2000) 7 on measures to protect and the protection against piracy in the digital environment. copyright and neighbouring rights and combat piracy, Recommendation Rec (2000) 8 on self-regulation especially in the digital environment, stresses that over the concerning cybercontent proposes guidelines to member last few years, piracy has been made easier by the develop- states regarding measures they could take in co-operation ment of new digital technologies and that it causes serious with the Internet industry and their self-regulatory bodies: damage to the sectors concerned. The text recommends support for content description, content selection tools for establishing pan-European anti-piracy policies that would users, content complaints systems such as hotlines, as well as recognise certain intellectual property rights and provide for appropriate sanctions against the violation of those rights through acts of piracy. Key tools The Advisory Panel on media diversity (AP-MD) was established after the Cracow Ministerial Conference to report The European Convention on Human Rights. to the CDMM on questions of media diversity and pluralism. Article 10 concerns freedom of expression, both to During the course of its second meeting on 8-9 October receive and to impart information and ideas. Article 2001, the Panel held a hearing with experts on media 8, closely linked to freedom of expression, deals with ownership regulations and possible future regulatory ap- the right to privacy. It protects the individual against proaches in this area. The Panel has also embarked on the all types of interference, including intrusion by the preparation of a draft report on media diversity, which it media. National legislation must allow the balanced expects to finalise next year. exercise of these two fundamental rights of equal value. The Declaration on Freedom of Expression Activities for the development and and Information (1982) of the Council of Europe sets consolidation of democratic stability forth a number of fundamental principles which the member states agree to uphold. On 14 August 2001, the Council of Europe and the The European Convention on Transfrontier European Union signed an agreement on a Joint Initiative to Television, which entered into force in 1993, sup- assist the Montenegrin authorities with the adaptation of the plies a legal framework intended to ensure the free legal framework in the media field in Montenegro. This one- reception and retransmission of television across year programme complements the Joint Initiative which is national borders, subject to compliance with a set of currently being implemented in Serbia. common principles covering programming, the right In its Recommendation 1497 (2001) on freedom of of reply, advertising and sponsorship. To date, the expression and the functioning of parliamentary democracy Convention has been ratified by 23 of the 43 member in Ukraine, the Parliamentary Assembly called on the Commit- states (see the “Simplified chart of signatures and tee of Ministers to provide greater assistance to Ukraine in ratifications of European human rights treaties”). order to achieve a noticeable improvement of the general Recommendations or resolutions to govern- framework in which the media operate. In response to this ments of member states suggest certain particular Recommendation, an Action Plan has been drawn up for the measures to regulate the media. Such texts are drawn purpose of assisting the Ukrainian authorities in setting up up and refined by the CDMM before their adoption and applying a regulatory framework for the media in by the Committee of Ministers. keeping with Council of Europe standards. The Plan also

30 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe aims to promote the development of a range of free, inde- pendent and pluralistic media in Ukraine Following the accession of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe in January 2001, a supplementary support programme was set up to assist these countries in Co-operation programmes the reform of their media legislation and practice in compli- ance with the relevant European standards. Priority among the initiatives undertaken by Information on the activities implemented in the the Council of Europe to foster democratic security: framework of the above-mentioned programmes, as well as establishing a media system which satisfies all the those carried out in other countries, can be found on the web requirements of a democratic society – especially in site. the new member states and in those that are candi- dates for membership. Co-operation programmes Internet: http://www.humanrights.coe.int/media. allow the Organisation to give support to member countries in the democratic reform of their media structures. Parallel information campaigns aim at creating awareness in such matters as the exercise of journalistic freedom, media action and racism, election coverage, the relationship between the media and the legal authorities, or the treatment of minorities.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 31 Council of Europe European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI)

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance was born as a result of the first Summit of Heads of State and Government of the member states, in 1993, with a task: to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance at European level and from the perspective of the protection of human rights.

Work December 2001. In Autumn 2001 contact visits took place to Latvia, Finland, Ukraine, Malta, and Portugal, with a view to preparing draft reports on these countries, to be discussed at Country-by-country ECRI’s plenary meeting in December 2001.

July: 4 second reports

On 3 July ECRI made public its second reports on General themes Croatia, Cyprus, Germany and Turkey. These reports form part of a second cycle of monitoring of member states’ laws, policies and practices to combat racism. As part of this Anti-discrimination legislation approach, ECRI analyses the situation as regards racism and intolerance in each of the member states of the Council of A working group on anti-discrimination legislation is Europe and makes suggestions and proposals as to how to currently preparing a draft ECRI general policy recommenda- tackle the problems identified. tion on “Key components of a body of legislation at national level against racism and racial discrimination”, which is November: 2 second reports expected to be adopted by ECRI at its plenary meeting in At its plenary meeting in June 2001, ECRI adopted its March 2002. The text will cover issues related to combating second reports on the Russian Federation and the Nether- racism in a broad sense, such as racial discrimination, lands, which were published in November. At the same expressions of a racist nature, racist organisations, etc., and plenary meeting, draft reports on Estonia, Georgia, Ireland, will cover all branches of the law, constitutional, civil, Italy and Romania were examined and the final versions of administrative and criminal. these reports are due to be adopted at ECRI’s plenary in ECRI’S TRIPLE PROGRAMME

country-by-country work work on general themes This approach consists of carrying out an in-depth work analysis of the situation in each of the member coun- · adoption of general policy recommendations tries in order to develop specific, concrete proposals, addressed to the governments of the member matched by follow-up. States. To date ECRI has adopted six recommenda- · the first round of reports was conducted between tions 1997 and 1999, giving rise to the first reports. · collection and circulation of examples of “good · the second stage, from 1999 to 2002, is in progress practice” on specific subjects, to illustrate ECRI’s with 11 second reports published. recommendations · the third will begin in 2003. · curbing the dissemination of racist and anti-Semitic materials over the Internet activities · broadening the non-discrimination clause (Article 14) of the European Convention on Human Rights in liaison with the community through Protocol No. 12 (containing a non-exhaus- · awareness-raising and information sessions in the tive list of discrimination grounds). ECRI has been member states closely following work on the protocol right up to · co-ordination with national and local NGOs finalisation and will be calling for its swift ratification. · communicating the anti-racist message and produc- · contribution to the World Conference against ing educational material. racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

32 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

United Nations World Conference against immigrants, sometimes resulting in manifestation of hostility racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia vis-à-vis these groups of persons. and related intolerance Second report on the Russian Federation CRI (2001) 41 A Council of Europe delegation, headed by the In the Russian Federation, problems of racism, xenophobia Secretary General and including the Chairman of ECRI, as well and discrimination persist and concern notably – although as representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly, participated not exclusively – Chechens and other people from the North in the World Conference against Racism, held in Durban, Caucasus, people from Central Asia, refugees and members of South Africa, from 31 August to 8 September 2001. The the Jewish community. These problems are in part linked to Council of Europe had organised the European contribution the difficulties encountered in ensuring that federal legisla- (European Conference against Racism All different all equal: tion and policies are applied at the regional and local levels. from principle to practice) to the World Conference. It recalled An illustration of this is the discrimination originating from in Durban its readiness to join collective efforts at the the system of registration of residence and temporary stay European level to ensure the action needed to implement the and its enforcement procedure, an issue of particular concern recommendations of the World Conference. to ECRI. The behaviour – on what seems to be a significant scale – of law enforcement officials vis-à-vis members of certain minority groups is also cause for serious concern. Publications Concern is also expressed at the unsatisfactory implementa- tion of existing law provisions against racial violence and hate speech, these phenomena being in part connected to the Second report on Croatia presence of extremist groups and political parties and to the CRI (2001) 34 exploitation of social prejudice.

Second report on Cyprus Practical examples in combating racism and intolerance CRI (2001) 35 against Roma/Gypsies Second report on Germany CRI (2001) 28 Contains practical examples in combating racism and intoler- CRI (2001) 36 ance against Roma/Gypsies. The examples cited have been Second report on Turkey compiled by an independent consultant, Robin Oakley. This CRI (2001) 37 publication is intended to accompany ECRI general policy published in July, these 4 reports are summarised in Bulletin recommendation No. 3 on Combating racism and intolerance No. 53, publications section. against Roma/Gypsies, which was adopted on 6 March 1998, and which provides guidelines for the development of ECRI recognises that in the two following countries comprehensive national policies in this respect. French positive developments have occurred. At the same time, the version to be published in 2002. reports detail ECRI’s continuing grounds for concern. Activities of the Council of Europe with relevance to Second report on the Netherlands combating racism and intolerance CRI (2001) 40 CRI (99) 56 final rev. In the Netherlands, the labour market is one of the areas This document, published in September, provides an over- where discrimination still appears to be most widespread. view of various Council of Europe activities, which contribute The effectiveness of existing criminal law aimed at combating to the fight against racism and intolerance. racism and discrimination is limited, notably due to difficul- ties in the enforcement of the relevant provisions. Of concern is also the general climate concerning asylum-seekers and Internet site : http://www.ecri.coe.int/

I am black, I am white, I am black and white. This illustration by the Alsatian artist Tomi Ungerer in the framework of European Confer- ence against Racism has been ac- cepted to appear on a stamp. It has been chosen as a message of tolerance to be addressed to the young generations of tomor- row, who will be responsible for society in the near future. The French Post Office has been making special postage stamps available to the Council of Europe since 1958.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 33 Council of Europe Equality between women and men

Since 1979, the Organisation has been promoting European co-operation to achieve real equality between the sexes. The Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG) has the responsability for co-ordinating these activities.

Women and conflict prevention From theory... The Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men organised a seminar in Strasbourg on 20 and 21 The European Convention on Human Rights, September on the participation of women in the prevention Article 14, prohibits any distinction based, inter alia, and resolution of conflicts. The main objective was to explore on grounds of sex, in relation to the rights protected. and draw attention to the involvement of women in the Protocol No. 7 adds the principle of equality Council of Europe member states in peacemaking, between spouses with regard to their rights and peacebuilding and conflict prevention activities at the grass- responsibilities in marriage. roots level, as well as at the level of formal decision-making. Protocol No. 12, once in force, will provide The seminar was also a preparatory event for the 5th Euro- that no one can be discriminated against by any pean Ministerial Conference on equality between women and public authority on any ground. men, which is to be held in Skopje in June 2002. The European Social Charter and its Addi- Over a hundred experts – many of whom have actively tional Protocol of 1988 provide a number of specific worked for peace and dialogue in troubled areas – took part rights for women. The revised Social Charter contains in the seminar. Speakers from, for example, the Balkans, a specific non-discrimination clause on a variety of Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Chechnya, described how grounds, one of which is sex. women had worked in their countries and regions to build bridges across dividing lines, organise politically to ensure women’s presence at peace talks and talk with the “other side” to find understanding rather than retribution. Gender mainstreaming The conclusions of the General Rapporteur, including recommendations to governments, international and non- governmental organisations and decision-makers in the Gender mainstreaming in Council of media, can be found on the Europe committees Equality web site: http:// www.humanrights.coe.int/ A workshop on gender mainstreaming for the Chairs equality/. and Secretaries of four Council of Europe Steering Commit- tees (Social Cohesion, Health, Sport, Territorial Asylum, Refugees and Stateless Persons) was held by the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG) in Strasbourg on 5 September. The participants discussed how gender equality relates to the fields dealt with by the differ- ent committees and how a gender perspective could be introduced into their work. A consultant expert will be preparing a mission statement for each committee to be discussed at their forthcoming meetings.

Network on gender mainstreaming An informal meeting of experts working in the field of gender mainstreaming was organised by the Steering Com-

34 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Co-operation activities in the field of ... to practice equality between women and men The Steering Committee for Equality between A information and awareness-raising seminar on the Women and Men has the principal responsibility for prevention of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of defining and implementing the Council of Europe’s sexual exploitation was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 15 and 16 action in this field. It prepares ministerial confer- October. Work is starting on the preparation of a draft law on ences, organises seminars and publishes studies on combating trafficking and a draft National Action Plan for the questions concerning equality. The CDEG looks for prevention of trafficking in women and victim support. appropriate ways of eliminating current obstacles and As part of the Council of Europe contribution to the draws attention to the challenges involved in bringing Stability Pact Task Force on Trafficking, a pilot project on about full and effective equality. “criminal law reform on trafficking in human beings in South As well as its action supporting equal partici- Eastern Europe” started with a seminar in Bucharest, Roma- pation of women and men at all levels of life in nia, on 24-26 October. The aim of the project is to contribute society, the CDEG is also involved in more specific to the effective criminalisation of trafficking in human beings activities: at regional level and to ensure protection of victims’ Human • protecting women against violence Rights in accordance with European and other international • campaigning against the traffic in human standards. beings for purposes of sexual exploitation Thanks to financing from the Canadian Government in • The participation of women in political and the framework of the Stability Pact, a number of Council of public decision-making Europe documents on gender issues have been translated • integrating the question of equality in all into the languages of south-east Europe. policies and programmes • positive action in favour of equality. Publications mittee for equality between women and men (CDEG) in Strasbourg on 3 October 2001. The aim of the meeting was Women in politics in the Council of Europe member to enable experts to meet and exchange experiences and states provide an impetus to develop networks at national, regional EG (2001) 6 and international levels. The web site of the Equality Division This document presents an will be developed to provide a source of information on inventory, in each of the experts in the field of gender mainstreaming, projects 43 member states of the An eloquent graphic: in organised, documents published, etc. Council of Europe, of the parliaments of the Council of Europe member states women number of women holding held 1,698 seats (16.7%), men Gender mainstreaming in schools government posts; the 8,485 (83.3%). percentage of women in The first meeting of a Group of specialists on promot- elected positions at ing gender mainstreaming in schools (EG-S-GS) took place in national, regional and local Strasbourg on 18-19 October 2001. The group, which level; measures designed to includes representatives of the Equality and Education facilitate women’s partici- Committees and experts in the field of equality and/or pation in political life; and education, will be looking at the relevance of existing policies the type of electoral ¢ women and practices in the field of gender equality in education and £ men system, at 31 July 2001. Six how these can be adapted to new challenges. The group will comparative tables can be prepare a report on how gender mainstreaming can be found at the end of the promoted in schools through, inter alia, initial and continuous document. teacher training, introduction of new teaching methods and learning contexts, revision of curricula and teaching materi- Handbook on national machinery to promote gender als, including examples of good practice. The group is also equality and action plans responsible for preparing a draft recommendation to member EG (2001) 7 states containing guidelines for policies and measures to be taken in this area. International seminar on the participation of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts (Strasbourg, 20-21 September 2001) – Conclusions by the General Internet site: http://www.humanrights.coe.int/equality/ Rapporteur EG/Sem/Peace (2001) 7

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 35 Council of Europe Human rights awareness

In the field of human rights, the future presents many challenges for the Council of Europe. In response, it has set up co-operation programmes, with both new and old member states, non-governmental organisations and professional groups.

“Train the trainers” course for police mechanisms within the Council of Europe, and demonstrated and gendarmerie in Turkey a remarkable interest in possible ways to cater for human rights protection under the European Convention on Human In September this year a working group, with mem- Rights and the European Convention for the Prevention of bers from the Turkish Government and the Council of Torture. The seminar proved that reaching out to relevant Europe, had its first meeting and finalised a common pro- professionals in remote places from the capitals of the posal for “train the trainers” course, which will be funded by member states is a sure way of providing for a direct discus- a joint programme of the Council of Europe and the European sion between them and the Council of Europe that bears a Commission. In total 72 police and gendarmerie teachers will strong potential for a productive outcome. participate in the “train the trainers” courses. The “train the trainers” course” will start with a pilot course for 18 trainers in January 2002 involving three weeks’ Asylum and the European preparation in Ankara. During this period the participants will Convention on Human Rights have basic human rights education and pedagogical training in modern teaching methods. The experts will be from Approximately forty participants (judges, representa- several countries, including Turkey. tives from relevant ministries, non-governmental organisa- The following stage of the course will include training tions, human rights activists and lawyers) from the Russian abroad in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. The Federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine participants will follow teaching methods in use in the police and Belarus took part in each of the two seminars organised schools and observe how human rights are mainstreamed in by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the United the police-related topics. The 12 days abroad will be finalised Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Moscow office in with a two-day evaluation in Ankara. October in Moscow. After the period abroad participants will return to The first event was devoted to “The European their ordinary work for a period of 8 weeks and put the new Convention on Human Rights and its relevance for the lessons to the test to see whether they are adapted to the protection of asylum-seekers, refugees and internally dis- needs of the Turkish Police and Gendarmerie. Following this placed persons”, while the second one discussed “Freedom of period, participants will evaluate with a consultant and movement in CIS”. The meetings targeted to create a dia- representatives from the Council of Europe, the whole logue between various law enforcement agencies in order to course. The results of the evaluation will be taken into address problems of persons unable to integrate locally and consideration in the preparation of the remaining three to acquire Russian citizenship. The aim was also to explore courses. international law in relation to freedom of movement and domestic implementation measures, as well as to raise awareness of CIS obligations to implement measures regard- Human Rights Awareness in ing the facilitation of freedom of movement (especially in Azerbaijan light of Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 to the European Conven- tion on Human Rights). A seminar entitled “Azerbaijan and Council of Europe: applicable human rights standards” was held in Ganja, Azerbaijan on 17 and 18 September 2001, for representatives of local non-governmental organisations. The participants Internet site: http://www.humanrights.coe.int/aware and discussed the major existing human rights protection http://www.humanrights.coe.int/police

36 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 s play in Kosovo How does it happen? • The facilitators bring one page of the Human rights: child’ Awareness calendar per month. campaign in Kosovo • The exercise takes one hour . schools • During the month, teachers may In co-operation with the OSCE, a human rights spend a further hour in assessing the state awareness-raising campaign for primary school of implementation of the monthly activity. pupils started in October in Kosovo, funded by a voluntary contribution from the US Government. • The facilitators are national and inter - The CoE’s participation consisted of adapting ex- national staff members of the Human isting human rights Rights Division of the awareness material to be OSCE Mission in used in a number of Kosovo. There are two schools in Kosovo. The facilitators per class. CoE provided the original designs and the materials, while the OSCE will be bringing the project into the schools in Kosovo.

What happens? • The campaign’ s main tool is a school calendar (covering Where does it October to June). Each of the Pravo meseca happen? nine pages of the calendar is illus- trated with an image by the Polish • The classes tar- artist Wozniak, representing one of the rights guaranteed by the Euro- geted will be in the order of 30 pean Convention on Human Rights. per region and the ethnic balance will be Not only - • The pictures have no title, only the motto observed (70% Albanian, 20% Bosnian/Ser this year: rights are for always, rights are for everyone! bian, 10% Turkish). • Facilitators will read out the text of the European Convention and guide the children to choose the right rep- • The age-group targeted, given the sym- -olds. resented in the pictures. bolic design of the pictures, is 13/14 year • Once the children, by democratic vote, have identi- fied the right, the facilitators will give them an activity con- nected with that right to carry out during the month. Evaluations of the project will take place at- • On the calendar sheet for the month the children regular intervals, with debriefings, and inter have space to include a diagram of their vote, thoughts and views with students, teachers and images relating to the right of the month and the results of their monthly activity. facilitators by OSCE staff. If the project is • In June the facilitators will collect all the calendars successful, the Campaign will be repeated and bring them to Pristina for a selection. At the end of June on a larger scale during the following there will be a ceremony/event where the best calendars . will be awarded prizes. school year

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Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 39 Council of Europe Committee of Ministers

The Committee of Ministers is the decision-making body of the Council of Europe, made up of the foreign ministers of the forty-one member states or their permanent representatives. The Committee meets twice a year at ministerial level, and once a week at the level of ministerial deputies. The human rights situation in member and non-member states features regularly on their agenda.

New treaties position. It provides that persons having their habitual residence in the territory of a Party to the Agreement may apply for legal aid in civil, commercial or administrative Convention on cybercrime matters in the territory of another Party. The additional protocol aims to improve the practical Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on application of the Agreement, in particular as regards co- 19 September 2001. Opened for signature on operation between central authorities and communication 23 November 2001 between lawyers and applicants. This Convention is the first international treaty on crimes committed via the Internet and other computer networks. It deals particularly with infringements of copy- right, computer-related fraud, child pornography and viola- Adopted texts tions of network security. It provides for procedural powers such as the search of computer networks and interception. They may take the form of: Treaties – or conventions – are binding legal Second Additional Protocol to the instruments for the states and other subjects of European Convention on Mutual international law which are parties to them. Declarations are usually adopted only at the Assistance in Criminal Matters biannual ministerial sessions. Recommendations to member states are for Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on matters on which the Committee has agreed a com- 19 September 2001. Opened for signature on mon policy, but are not binding on member states. 8 November 2001 Since 1993, recommendations have also been This Protocol is intended to improve states’ ability to adopted by the Committee in order to fulfil its func- react to cross-border crime in the light of political and social tions under Article 29 of the European Social Charter. developments in Europe and technological developments Resolutions are mainly adopted by the Commit- throughout the world. It improves and supplements the 1959 tee of Ministers in order to fulfil its functions under the Convention on Mutual Assistance and the 1978 additional European Convention on Human Rights, the European protocol to it, in particular by broadening the range of Code of Social Security, the European Social Charter situations in which mutual assistance may be requested and and the Partial Agreement in the social and public making it easier, quicker and more flexible. It also takes health field. Other resolutions tend to concern account of the need to protect individual rights in the administrative matters of the Council of Europe. processing of personal data. Decisions of the Ministers’ Deputies, issued as public documents since November 1994, are taken Additional Protocol to the Agreement on with the full authority of the Committee of Ministers the Transmission of Applications for Legal and are binding on all persons and bodies subject to its authority. They are an essential reference point for Aid the Council of Europe’s Secretariat. The adoption of conventions, recommendations, resolutions, the Opened for signature in Moscow on 4 October 2001 budget the Intergovernmental Programme of Activities The 1977 Agreement aims to eliminate economic and terms of reference of committees all take the form obstacles in legal proceedings for people in a financially weak of decisions.

40 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Convention on Information and Legal Co- educational and social measures should go hand in hand with operation concerning “information society legislative measures. services” Digital piracy Opened for signature in Moscow on 4 October 2001 Recommendation Rec (2001) 7, 5 September 2001 The aim of this Convention, which was prepared in The text recommends establishing pan-European anti- close co-operation with the European Union, is to set up a piracy policies that would recognise certain intellectual legal information and co-operation system in the area of new property rights and provide for appropriate sanctions against communication services, extending the application of the violation of those rights through piracy. Directive 98/48/CE beyond the borders of the European Union. These new services, which are evolving very rapidly, Harmful Internet content not only have an impact on the protection of certain human rights such as freedom of expression and the respect for Recommendation Rec (2001) 8, 5 September 2001 private life, but are also relevant for other questions, such as The Recommendation stresses the importance of the fight against terrorism, organised crime and frauds international co-operation to counteract the dissemination of concerning electronic commerce. illegal and harmful content, such as pornography, violent and This Convention constitutes one of the first examples racist content and content insuitable for minors. of the extension of a European Union Directive to the member states of the Council of Europe which are not Friendly settlement of administrative members of the European Union. disputes Additional Protocol to the Convention for Recommendation Rec (2001) 9, 5 September 2001 the Protection of Individuals with regard The Recommendation calls for encouraging the use of to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, alternative means of resolving administrative disputes, the regarding Supervisory Authorities and principal advantage of which being that they are more Transborder Data Flows flexible, more speedy and less expensive, while maintaining judicial review. Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 23 May 2001. Opened for signature on 8 November 2001 European Code of Police Ethics This text will increase the protection of personal data and privacy by improving the Convention of 1981 in two Recommendation Rec (2001) 10, 19 September 2001 areas: firstly, it provides for the setting up of national This text defines standards, values and a minimum supervisory authorities responsible for ensuring compliance ethical framework common to all member states in terms of with laws or regulations adopted in pursuance of the police objectives, operations and responsibilities, so as to Convention. Secondly, it calls up, as a condition to a data guarantee security and respect for human rights in demo- flow to a third country, the necessity that the recipient state cratic societies. or international organisation be able to afford an adequate It is the first European instrument of its kind to level of protection. address questions of police ethics.

The treaties’ texts are available on the Internet site of the Directo- Fight against organised crime rate General of Legal Affairs, Treaty Office. Recommendation Rec (2001) 11, 19 September 2001 The Recommendation aims to establish a crime policy Treaty Office’s Internet site: http://conventions.coe.int common to member states by setting out ways to make their law more effective and step up international co-operation against the many facets of organised crime. Recommendations to member states Health policy towards people in marginal Racism prevention in sport situations

Recommendation Rec (2001) 6, 18 July 2001 Recommendation Rec (2001) 12, 10 October 2001 The Committee of Ministers advocates the application This text crowns the series of the Recommendations of special legislation under which any form of act or speech on vulnerable sections of the population. The constant rise in inciting others to violence or to discrimination against racial the number of people living in marginal situations and in groups would be an offence under the criminal law and insecure conditions, and its serious consquences inter alia in severe penalties laid down. It suggests that regulations and the health field, call for adopting a coherent and comprehen-

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 41 Council of Europe sive policy. To protect and promote the health of people in harmonious coexistence between peoples, nationalities, marginal situations, the Recommendation proposes a ethnic groups and religions. multisectoral approach to preventive action and supportive It emphasises that the promotion of tolerance and environments for social reintegration. reconciliation is an absolute priority for democratic stability in this region, an objective to which the Council of Europe Guidelines on best medical practices intends to make its own specific contribution, based on common values such as cultural diversity, respect for human Recommendation Rec (2001) 13, 10 October 2001 rights and the equal dignity of all human beings. The Recommendation proposes a framework for coherent and comprehensive national policy for the produc- Fight against international terrorism tion, appraisal, updating and active dissemination of evi- dence-based clinical practice guidelines. Its main aim is to 12 September 2001 support and promote good clinical practice in the best The Committee of Ministers condemned the monstrous interest of the patient and to improve the quality and acts committed on 11 September against the American people, effectiveness of health care. which, it said, violated human rights and affected us all. Considering that the Council of Europe, which unites History teaching in 21st century Europe the continent around civilised values , has a particular interest and responsibility to the resolute reaction that these Recommendation Rec (2001) 15, 31 October 2001 acts demand from democracies, it decided to hold an urgent To promote the European dimension in history special meeting in order to find the ways of strenghtening teaching, based on the premise that ideological manipula- the fight against terrorism. tion of history is incompatible with the fundamental [During the said meeting, the Ministers’ Deputies took a principles of the Council of Europe, the Committee of number of short and medium-term decisions : Ministers recommends the member states’ governments – They urged states which have not yet done so to sign make use of a number of guidelines for reforming history and ratify, inter alia, the European Convention on the teaching. It encourages such fundamental values as toler- Suppression of Terrorism; and urged signatory states ance, mutual understanding, human rights and democracy which have issued reservations on these texts to and preventing crimes against humanity. It warns against consider withdrawing them or reducing their number. misuses of history for propaganda purposes or denial or – A committee of experts has been asked to co-ordinate omission of historical facts. To this end, it calls for a day in member states’ positions on the conventions on schools for Holocaust remembrance and the prevention of terrorism being prepared by the United Nations. crimes against humanity. – They asked the Secretary General to make urgent proposals for the 2002 working programme and Protection of children against sexual decided to include the fight against terrorism in the agenda for the 109th session of the Committee of exploitation Ministers which will be held in November 2001.]

Recommendation Rec (2001) 16, 31 October 2001 Bosnia and Herzegovina The series of concrete measures proposed in this text aims at protecting children more efficiently against all forms 19 September 2001 of pornography, prostitution, slavery and trafficking. Noting The Committee of Ministers considers that the that the sexual exploitation of children has assumed alarming adoption of the new electoral law for Bosnia and Herzegovina proportions, especially with regard to new technologies such fulfils a major condition for the accession of the country to as the Internet, and that it is criminal networks’ doing, the Council of Europe. It encourages it to continue the operating in all European states, the Recommendation calls reinforcement of its institutional capabilities and to resolve on states to coordinate and reinforce their actions. all outstanding matters relating to accession.

Alleged political prisoners in Armenia and Declarations Azerbaijan

Protection and rebuilding of places of 21 September 2001 worship in Kosovo and the wider Balkans While welcoming the measures of pardon taken by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan towards 89 prisoners 18 July 2001 – which constitute a success of the Council of Europe’s The Committee of Ministers calls on the international efforts for the development of democracy in this country – community to mobilise with a view to protecting and the Committee of Ministers points out that all political rebuilding places of worship in Kosovo and the wider Balkans, prisoners must be released or be granted a new trial. It symbols of a possible return of mutual confidence and of requests the Azerbaijan Government to persevere in its

42 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe efforts to honour its obligations to the full and to provide a Centre can be expected to play in order to bring together all solution to problems which should not exist in a Council of relevant parties to consider the social implications of Europe member state. globalisation.

International Criminal Court Recommendation 1487 (2000) on the 10 October 2001 development of a new social system The Committee of Ministers calls on all states to facilitate the early establishment of the International Criminal Reply of 4 July 2001, Document 9178 of the Assembly Court, which it considers as a fundamental factor of peace The Committee of Ministers mentions the works and security and as based on very high standards of justice, already, or in the course of being, accomplished in the field of to which the Council of Europe is strongly attached. It the strengthening of participatory democracy. expresses its readiness to provide states which so request with the appropriate assistance with a view to the ratification Recommendation 1426 (1999) on and implementation of the Rome Statute. European democracies facing up terrorism

Replies by the Committee of Reply of 18 July 2001, Document 9180 of the Assembly Ministers to recommendations and In view of the recent tragic developments in this area, reference is made to the most recent developments by the written questions of the Committee of Ministers. Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1473 (2000) on the The Committee of Ministers informed the Parliamen- tary Assembly of the effect it gave, or intends to give, to the honouring of obligations and following recommendations: commitments by Croatia

Recommendation 1427 (1999) Reply of 12 September 2001, Document 9204 of the Assembly on the respect for international The Committee of Ministers notes that co-operation humanitarian law in Europe between the Croatian authorities and the Council of Europe has been instrumental for the progress achieved so far and Reply of 4 July 2001, Document 9174 of the Assembly underlines the need for such co-operation to continue in The Committee of Ministers’ reply contains informa- future. It encourages the Croatian authorities to make further tion on the role the Council of Europe and other bodies can progress on all the matters mentioned in its reply. play in this field and, notably, to the possibilities offered by the European Convention on Human Rights. Recommendation 1506 (2001) on freedom of expression and information Recommendation 1463 (2000) in the media in Europe on the second world summit on social Reply of 19 September 2001, development Document 9213 of the Assembly The Committee of Ministers reaffirms the highest Reply of 4 July 2001, Document 9175 of the Assembly importance it attaches to the unfettered exercise of free- dom of expression and information and its determination to The Committee of Ministers attaches great impor- maintain a strong emphasis on this sector in the intergov- tance to the United Nations General Assembly special ernmental work programme of the Organisation. It recalls session, which has implications for the Council of Europe’s the texts it adopted and the priority it gave to this question Strategy for social cohesion. It continues to give the Organi- in the context of its thematic monitoring procedure. sation a higher profile at major world events in its fields of Particular emphasis has been put on assistance and co- competence. operation programmes in the media field, which are tar- Assistance programmes with countries of central and geted and adapted to the specific needs of member states eastern Europe have been stepped up significantly in the and applicant countries. It takes this opportunity of calling social field and will continue in this way. on member states and observers with the Council of Europe In addition, the Committee of Ministers recalls the as well as the European Union to consider contributing role of the Council of Europe’s Development Bank in the greater financial and technical resources to these pro- social investment field and the one which the North-South grammes.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 43 Council of Europe

Recommendation 1513 (2001) on the honouring of obligations and Human Rights: priorities commitments by Ukraine The events of 11 September Reply of 19 September 2001, Important decisions were taken, which Document 9214 of the Assembly highlight the particular role of the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers continues to follow the in combating international terrorism. The Council of situation as regards honouring of Ukraine’s commitments and Europe has a great potential of legal instruments to implementation of on-going and proposed co-operation improve cooperation between states, and the activities with the Council of Europe. Committee of Ministers called on member states to make use of it and to develop it further. To strenghten cooperation, the Committee of Ministers Recommendation 1396 (1999) on religion exhorted member states to fasten the setting up of and democracy the International Criminal Court. It also wants to investigate into the causes of terrorism and avoid ill- Reply of 19 September 2001, considered reactions against the Muslim community. Document 9215 of the Assembly The Committee of Ministers widely concurs with the The situation in the Balkans basic premises of the Assembly and believes that government was paid particular attention by the Commit- authorities should not interfere with freedom of religion or tee of Ministers: a package of measures was put religious pluralism at risk. prepared,in close cooperation with the OSCE and the European Union, to contribute to the implemen- tation of the framework agreement of 13 August in Recommendation 1474 (2000) “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. on the situation of lesbians and gays in Concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Committee Council of Europe member states of Ministers adopted a declaration welcoming the acceptance of a new electoral legislation, which Reply of 19 September 2001, represents a step towards accession of this country Document 9217 of the Assembly to the Council of Europe. It supports the process of The Committee of Ministers stresses that a broad democratic reforms in the Federal Republic of range of legal instruments and activities within the Council of Yugoslavia and more particularly the action for the Europe have the potential to address the problem. protection of minorities. In accordance with the wishes of the drafters of Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human In the Caucasus and other countries of central Rights (general prohibition of discrimination), the Committee and eastern Europe of Ministers does not think appropriate to consider the The situation in Chechnya has been regularly inclusion of sexual orientation amongst the grounds for discussed with the Russian authorities, which were discrimination explicitly mentioned in the said Protocol. The requested to co-operate fully with the European case-law of the Court plays its role in this respect by con- Committee on the Prevention of Torture (see the demning this type of discrimination and by inciting member Declaration in the appendix), and to take effective states to reform any discriminatory legislation or regulations. steps to prevent, and to prosecute perpetrators of torture. The Committee of Ministers also followed closely the situation in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbai- Recommendation 1412 (1999) on illegal jan. It requested a fact-finding visit to Ukraine, and activities of sects supports the democratic transition in Belarus.

Reply of 19 September 2001, The European Court of Human Rights Document 9220 of the Assembly and the risks that its excessive workload The Committee of Ministers underlines that a number represents for its effectiveness, is, for the Committee of member states, in response to one of the Recommenda- of Ministers, an essential concern, which it shares tion’s requests, have set up independent information centres. with the Assembly. If the Council of Europe, for resource reasons, is not in a position to set up a European observatory on groups of a In the field of death penalty religious, esoteric or spiritual nature, it does not exclude the The Committee of Ministers is keen to achieve possibility of facilitating and promoting networking and synergies for its abolition in Council of Europe exchange of information between existing national informa- observer states and in those member states which tion centres. have not yet de jure abolished it.

44 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Recommendation 1441 (2000) Written Question No. 396 on the on the situation in Belarus recognition of the territorial integrity of Reply of 21 September 2001, Azerbaijan by Armenia Document 9230 of the Assembly The Committee of Ministers still considers Belarus as Reply of 19 September 2001, an applicant state for membership and sresses that it is for Document 9212 of the Assembly the Belarusian authorities to take the steps that would allow The Committee of Ministers explicitely reaffirmed its the Assembly to lift the suspension of the special guest support for the respect of all internationally recognised status. borders, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all members of the Council of Europe, whilst equally acknowledging the Recommendation 1528 (2001) value of other principles of international law, such as the right to self-determination of peoples. on the situation in “the former Yugoslav It appeals to the two member states concerned to Republic of Macedonia” find a compromise in accordance with these principles and to avoid any statement in favour of a military solution or likely Reply of 21 September 2001, to strengthen enmity and hatred. Document 9231 of the Assembly The Committee of Ministers informs the Assembly of Recommendation 1533 (2001) on the the means it used to give effect, inter alia, to the requests of Recommendation 1528 calling on for intensification of co- honouring of obligations and operation programmes and assistance to the authorities of commitments by Georgia this country in the organisation of a reliable population census. Reply of 17 October 2001, Document 9271 of the Assembly Written Question No. 390 on Turkey and In order to prepare a final reply to the Recommenda- tion, the Committee of Ministers requested the Secretary the European Court of Human Rights General to send a Secretariat mission to Georgia with a view to getting relevant information and to assisting the Georgian Reply of 12 September 2001, authorities to fulfil all their commitments. Document 9206 of the Assembly The execution of judgments referred to in the Ques- tion is regularly supervised by the Committee of Ministers. Significant progress has been achieved in certain areas, but nevertheless full and proper execution of the Court’s judg- ments has not been secured in all cases. The Turkish authori- The full versions of all texts adopted by the Committee of Ministers ties are expected to give information in the near future which may be consulted on its Internet site. will enable the Comittee of Ministers to take a decision on Internet site: http://www.coe.int/cm/ this matter.

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 45 Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly

The Parliamentary Assembly is the parliamentary body of the Council of Europe, composed of delegates from the national parliaments of the Council’s forty-three member states. It meets four times a year. The Standing Committee, acting in the name of the Assembly, meets at least twice a year. Human rights figures prominently among the subjects debated by the Assembly.

Human rights situation in member In the recommendation, the Assembly invites the and non-member states Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to concen- trate, as a priority, the Organisation’s efforts in Macedonia on Azerbaijan and the Nagorno Karabakh confidence-building measures, legislative reforms – in conflict particular in the field of local self-government – education, and return of displaced persons to their homes. Written question No. 397 to the Committee of Ministers, Document 9235, 26 September 2001 Honouring of obligations and Worried about the statements of Azerbaijan officials at the highest level, which suggest a military solution to the commitments by Georgia Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Mr Hovhannisyan (Armenia) requests the Committee of Ministers to invite the Republic of Resolution 1257 and Recommendation 1533 (2001), Azerbaijan to refrain from statements that call for a military 25 September 2001 solution to the said conflict, and to fully respect its obliga- The Assembly found that Georgia had made some tions to find a negotiated peaceful solution to it. progress, but was far from honouring all the commitments it made on joining the Organisation. Situation in “the Former Yugoslav Republic It noted a gap between the formal laws and their practical implementation, and expressed deep concern about of Macedonia” various matters: allegations of ill-treatment and torture of

Resolution 1261 (2001) and Recommendation 1537 (2001), 27 September 2001 Adopted texts The Assembly reaffirmed the principles underpinning its position on the issue of “the Former Yugoslav Republic of The Assembly makes public its work by means Macedonia” (Macedonia): full respect for the sovereignty and of adopted texts. Of these there are four types: territorial integrity of Macedonia, respect for the rights of all Opinions are mostly expressed by the Assembly citizens and ethnic groups, condemnation of armed action by on questions put to it by the Committee of Ministers, extremist Albanian ethnic groups and the need for their such as the admission of new member states to the complete disarmament, condemnation of all extremist Council of Europe, but also on draft conventions, or violence in general. the budget. Remaining firmly convinced that the conflict can only Recommendations contain proposals ad- be settled by peaceful means, the Assembly advocates the dressed to the Committee of Ministers, the implemen- immediate dissolution of all paramilitary structures. It tation of which is within the competence of welcomes the signature of the Framework Agreement in governments. Skopje on 13 August 2001, aimed at ensuring the future of Resolutions embody decisions by the Assembly democracy in the country, and urges the political forces on questions which it is empowered to put into effect involved to do their utmost to implement it. or expressions of view for which it alone is responsi- In connection with the human dimension of the ble. They can also be addressed to national parlia- conflict, the Assembly recommends introducing security and ments. confidence-building measures to enable displaced persons to Orders concern issues of form, execution or return home in safety, and appeals for increased humanitarian procedure which the Assembly addresses to one or aid in order to relieve the human suffering. more of its committees.

46 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe detainees, behaviour of the police and security forces, and representatives of the United Nations High Commis- violence by Orthodox extremists against religious minorities. sioner for Refugees and with non-governmental organisa- It welcomed the granting of autonomous status to tions that there are still some 150 000 internally displaced Ajaria, but regretted that there was little progress on the people in Ingushetia, with dire living conditions. The settlement of regional conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. unsatisfactory security situation in Chechnya would be the It resolved to pursue the monitoring procedure in main factor which prevents the displaced from returning to order to help the country to fulfil its obligations and commit- their homes, as well as the lack of housing and unemploy- ments as a member state of the Council of Europe. ment. In the recommendation, the Assembly asks the In conclusion to its report after its first six months of Committee of Ministers to pursue or strengthen co-operation activity, the JWG judges the substantial changes which remain with the Georgian authorities as regards defined matters. to be achieved, while noting some positive changes of attitudes: its meetings with the highest Russian representa- Situation of Orthodox believers in Estonia tives in key areas allow it to exert continuing political pressure for positive change, and consultations with Chechen Written Question No. 399 to the Committee of representatives opened a new chapter with regard to a Ministers, Document 9242, 8 October 2001 political solution to the conflict. Mr Rogozin (Russia) asks the Committee of Ministers what measures it intends to take to invite the Republic of A public statement from the European Committee for the Preven- Estonia to amend its new law on churches and parishes, tion of Torture concerning the Chechen Republic – a procedure used which he considers as discriminatory towards the various when a country fails to co-operate or refuses to improve the churches, and to solve the issue of the registration of the situation in the light of the recommendations made to it – appears Charter of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow in the appendix. Patriarchy, to which belongs the overwhelming majority of Orthodox believers. Russian Federation and Georgia Situation in Chechnya Written Question No. 401 to the Committee of Ministers, Document 9268, 16 October 2001 Progress report on the activities of the joint working Mr Adamia (Georgia) asks the Committee of Ministers group on Chechnya, Document 9227, 24 September whether it will react to the visa requirements with Georgia 2001 introduced by Russia, in a way judged as discriminatory, and The Joint working group (JWG) on Chechnya was set which facilitates the movement of Boeviks from Russian up by the Assembly to keep under constant review the territory to the territory of Georgia which is not controlled progress made on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council by the Georgian authorities. of Europe’s and of the State Duma’s recommendations. It is composed of representatives of these two organs. Turkey For the year 2001, the JWG centred its work on the three following priority subjects: Written Question No. 398 to the Committee of Ministers, Document 9236, 26 September 2001 1. Finding a political solution to the conflict Mr Hovhannisyan (Armenia) asks the Committee of The JWG is now one of the few international plat- Ministers to persuade the Turkish authorities to cease forms where politically meaningful and sufficiently practical without delay their policy of blockading Armenia. discussions on a political solution are currently taking place. Written Question No. 402 to the Committee of At the end of various consultations with Chechen Ministers, Document 9272, 25 October 2001 representatives, a dialogue started between Chechens Considering that, despite numerous judgments by the representing various political backgrounds. If it is too early to European Court of Human Rights and demands by the speak about substantial and tangible improvements, this Committee of Ministers, Turkey continues to violate the change of attitude represents an encouraging progress in a obligation provided by the European Convention on Human complex conflict. Rights to bring an arrested person promptly before a judge, Mr Clerfayt (Belgium) asks the Committee of Ministers what 2. Respect for human rights measures it intends to take to ensure that Turkey complies Despite the difficulties it encounters, the JWG exerts with the Court’s judgments. itself to obtain from Russian authorities detailed information Declaration by the President of the Parliamentary on all criminal investigations by military and civilian prosecu- Assembly about the constitutional reform adopted by tors into crimes against the civilian population in the Turkey, 4 October 2001 Chechen Republic. The President of the Assembly welcomed the consti- 3. Humanitarian situation tutional reform approved on 3 October 2001 by the Turkish The JWG will pursue its work in this field. As a Parliament, which constitutes an important step forward in matter of fact, it emerges from meetings between the JWG meeting the Council of Europe’s standards of democracy and

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 47 Council of Europe

Human rights and wrongs – Speeches and articles Lord Russell-Johnston 92-871-4662-4 Compendium of speeches to the Assembly in 2000 by Lord Russell-Johnston, President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Available in English and French, this publication may be obtained from Council of Europe Publishing, http://book.coe.int/ or e-mail [email protected]/.

human rights. It brings impor- It recommends a range of measures to improve the tant improvements with several fight against terrorism and supports the idea of elaborating concerns expressed by the an international convention for signature at the highest level. Assembly in its monitoring report in June 2001, such as the minorities, the functioning of democratic institutions, and Rights of national minorities the scope of political freedoms and human rights in general. He welcomed the decision to limit the death penalty, but Written Question No. 400 to the Committee of wished to recall the Council of Europe’s unconditional opposi- Ministers, Document 9243, 8 October 2001 tion to capital punishment, including for terrorist offences. Recalling that the Assembly in the last decade has made an important contribution to developing legal stand- Honouring of obligations and ards concerning the protection of national minorities, particularly with the adoption of Recommendation 1492, commitments by Ukraine Mr Nagy (Hungary) asks the Committee of Ministers what its evaluation is of the effectiveness of the legal instruments Resolution 1262 and Recommendation 1538 (2001), already in use, and how it plans to take forward the imple- 27 September 2001 mentation of the said recommendation. The Assembly said that Ukraine had made significant progress over recent months towards the honouring of its Progress of the Assembly’s monitoring obligations and commitments as a member of the Council of Europe and that in the event that Ukraine should manage to procedure (2000-2001) fulfil the remaining commitments by the end of the year, the formal monitoring procedure could be considered at an end. Resolution 1260 and Recommendation 1536 (2001), It nonetheless denounced deficiencies, inter alia in the 26 September 2001 field of freedom of expression: acts of intimidation and The Assembly recalls the great importance of the violence against journalists, parliamentarians and opposition post-monitoring process introduced in 2000, which enables it politicians, unexplained murders or disappearances. to maintain a constructive dialogue with the member states which have not yet reached the stage where they fully honour all their obligations and commitments. The reports arising Democracy and legal development from this work constitute records of progress being made by member states towards the Organisation’s high standards of Democracies facing terrorism democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and, as such, are, furthermore, an invaluable source of reference for the Resolution 1258 and Recommendation 1534 (2001), European Union in dealing with the membership applications 26 September 2001 to it of the countries concerned. The Assembly declared itself horrified by the events of It considers that this work must be accompanied with 11 September, which violated the most fundamental human a policy of encouraging freedom of information and debate in right: the right to life. It called on the international commu- countries whose obligations and commitments are moni- nity to give all necessary support to the Government of the tored. If countries are to make progress towards European United States of America, notably for bringing the perpetra- democratic standards, the public must be aware of the tors of these attacks to justice, but in line with existing existence of these standards, and be capable of understand- international law and with the agreement of the United ing the problems existing in their countries and supporting Nations Security Council. the reform proposals that the Organisation deems essential. It describes these attacks as crimes rather than as acts It asks the Committee of Ministers to avoid any of war, and regards the new International Criminal Court as duplication between the monitoring procedures undertaken by the appropriate institution to judge them. the two organs, which could lead to diverging assessments.

48 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

European Court of Human Rights Death is not justice Structures, procedures and means of the Everything about the Council of Europe and the Court death penalty : answers and questions on why the death penalty was abolished in Europe, a detailed Recommendation 1535 (2001), 26 September 2001 country survey, in the member states, applicant or The Assembly called for a rapid deployment of suffi- observer states to this organisation. In appendix: the cient staff and financial resources to enable the Court to key text in the subject, Protocol No. 6 to the Conven- alleviate the alarming situation in which it finds itself as a tion for the protection of Human Rights concerning result of the ever-growing number of individual applications the abolition of the Death Penalty and a chart of date (553% over 3 years). of signatures and ratifications of this Protocol, It pointed out that direct application of the Court’s ratified by 39 of 43 member states. case-law by the judiciary of member states, its incorporation This booklet has been drawn up by the Directorate into the internal legislations, and the adoption of appropriate General of Human Rights and the Secretariat of the general measures by states to avoid violations of same type – Parliamentary Assembly following the First World notably excessive length of proceedings – should lead to a Congress Against the Death considerable reduction of the number of applications. Penalty held by the It recommends that the Committee of Ministers begin Council of Europe in June. work on a protocol amending the European Convention on Available, free of charge, Human Rights aimed at ensuring the long-term effectiveness in English and French, and, of the Court through an adaptation of its working methods shortly, in Albanian, at the and procedures. Human Rights Information Centre. The full version of the texts adopted by the Assembly is available on its Internet site.

Internet site: http://stars.coe.int

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 49 Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

The Office of the Commissioner is an independent institution en- trusted with the task of promoting both the notion of human rights and effective implementation and full enjoyment of those rights in the member states of the Council of Europe. The Commis- sioner publishes information on his activities by means of Alvaro Gil Robles has been Commissioner since reports, recommendations and other documents. September 1999. His term is for six years.

Visits to the Russian Federation First annual report

The Commissioner travelled to Moscow, three times The Commissioner has submitted to the Committee of between July and October, to discuss with the Russian Ministers and to the Parliamentary Assembly his first annual authorities his proposal to hold a seminar in Strasbourg on report on the exercise of his functions. It covers his activities the cessation of violence and the restoration of the rule of between 1 October 1999 and 1 April 2001, with reports of law as preconditions for the effective enjoyment of human official visits, speeches by the Commissioner, and conclusions rights in Chechnya. The Commissioner was in Moscow at the of seminars and conferences. It is available in electronic form end of July, on 13 and 14 September and again towards the on the Commissioner’s Internet site. A printed version should end of October. Only the second of these visits was official be published shortly. and resulted in a report.

Moscow, 13-14 September 2001 First recommendation The visit had the dual aims of securing the acceptance Rights of aliens wishing to enter a Council by the Russian authorities of the above-mentioned seminar of Europe member state and the and gathering information on the progress of investigations into human rights violations committed in the Chechen enforcement of expulsion orders Republic. With regard to the second of these objectives, the This first recommendation of the Commissioner, Commissioner was able to take note, in a meeting with the addressed to all member states of the Council of Europe, was civil and military prosecution services, of their increased published on 19 September 2001 following the seminar openness and expressed desire to more effectively investi- which he organised on this subject in June 2001. The recom- gate and prosecute human rights abuses, which, despite the mendation focused on the treatment of aliens on arrival, the difficulties they were facing, had resulted in some progress conditions of detention and expulsion procedures. It was being made. It was noted, however, that complaints of abuses insisted in respect of the first, that all aliens had the right to committed by the Russian armed forces and a general climate be heard on arrival, and to request asylum if necessary. It of impunity persisted and that much remained to be follows that refoulement straight off the plane is unacceptable. achieved. Detention, if necessary, ought not to be effected in peniten- The proposed seminar was officially accepted during tiary establishments or police stations, but in special centres this visit. It was agreed that the Commissioner should invite and for legally defined periods, with no hindrance on access representatives from all Chechen society, particularly its civil to lawyers and NGO assistance. The desirability of encourag- society, including those elements whose political ambitions ing voluntary return and the need for the effective training of were hostile to the Russian Federation. The participants immigration officers were emphasised in respect of the would include members of the federal and local administra- expulsion of aliens. It was recommended that certain prac- tion, judges, lawyers and the prosecution services. Russian tices, including the wearing of masks and the use of gags or NGOs particularly active in the region would also be invited. tranquillisers be prohibited outright. The seminar will take place on 26 and 27 November 2001 under the title of “The respect for and protection of human rights in the Republic of Chechnya”.

50 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe

Speeches, seminars and conferences ians, preferably independent from both the institution and the family, was suggested as a means of protecting the rights Seminar on “The protection of the human of elderly persons through the provision of advice and rights and the special situation of elderly representation before various authorities. The conclusions stressed the need for elderly persons to be able to report persons in old peoples’ homes or other possible abuses of their rights and to be able to effectively institutions” defend them before an independent body. Though new legislation specific to elderly persons, was not called for and Organised in co-operation with the Institute of Health risked having a stigmatising effect, the drawing up of a Law of the University of Neuchâtel, the seminar took place European charter of minimum standards to be observed in from 21 to 23 October 2001. It concentrated on the special the care of elderly persons was encouraged as was the idea of situation of elderly persons in old peoples’ homes, the establishing a European Observatory for monitoring the reasons and criteria for placement of elderly persons in semi- respect for their rights. open or closed institutions, and involuntary treatment. Participants included government officials from various Press conference member states, national and international NGO representa- tives and other experts in the area. The Commissioner gave a press conference on The seminar conclusions emphasised the importance “Respect for human rights in times of crisis” at the headquar- of autonomy and the desirability of improving domestic ters of Radio France, in Paris, on 5 October 2001. services to those elderly persons who preferred to remain at home. The desirability of accreditation mechanisms for old peoples’ homes and other institutions were stressed, as were the need for effective controls. The appointment of guard- Internet site: http://www.commissioner.coe.int

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 51 Council of Europe In brief

Conferences and other meetings Co-operation programme between the Council of Europe and Russia for strengthening the rule of law in this country Irregular migration and dignity of migrants: co-opera- A delegation of Russian legal experts led by Deputy tion in the Mediterranean region Head of the Russian Presidential Administration visited the Athens, 3 and 4 October 2001 Council of Europe to discuss the ongoing judicial reform in This Conference, organised by the Council of Europe, Russia. The reform concerns a number of key issues, such as dealt with three main themes: the causes of irregular the abolition of the death penalty, the role of the Prosecutor migration, the preservation of irregular migrants’ human General’s Office, introduction of jury trials, the status of dignity and a migration management strategy. judges and organisation of the bar.

European identity: History and religion – 2nd part of Consultation meetings in the Council of Europe for an the Council of Europe Colloquy on European identity early establishment of the International Criminal Court Strasbourg, 8 and 9 October 2001 The Second Consultation Meeting on the ratification This colloquy aimed to discuss, in a context of of the Statute of the International Criminal Court addressed, multiple identities, the reasons for the religious, intellectual inter alia, issues of national and international immunities, the and cultural antagonisms that still divide Europe, and ways surrender of persons to the future Court, the transit of of resolving them. persons over the territory of a State, the enforcement of A third round table is scheduled in 2002, at the close sentences that will be handed down by the Court, and the of which a “Declaration on European identity” will be drawn reform of national substantive criminal law. up, in consultation with all the Council of Europe bodies.

Meeting on the reducing of delays in civil proceedings Publication Madrid, 11, 12 and 13 July 2001 This meeting was organised by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Spanish Judiciary Council. The The emergence of human rights in Europe – participants agreed that they would be in a better position to An anthology (2001) find solutions to promote the effectiveness of justice at a J. Carpentier, H. Hinke, R. Minerath, W. Schmale, J. Zaryn national level by examining the causes of undue delay and by 92-871-4514-8 sharing their experiences in this field. They identified a number of guidelines, which are contained in the conclu- The aim of this anthology is ambitious – to publish those sions, available from the Press Service (tel: +33 3 88 41 25 60 texts which, in the sixteen contributing countries, have or e-mail: [email protected]). caused the idea of human rights to take root and grow in the minds of 24th Conference of the European Justice Ministers people. Moscow, 4 and 5 October 2001 This publication may be obtained The Ministers proposed an action plan to fight from Council of Europe Publishing. terrorism, by adapting existing international treaties and elaborating new ones, and by boosting legal co-operation in this field. Internet site : http://book.coe.int In other respects, they urged action to improve the enforcement of court decisions, and adopted a resolution focussing on the need to provide decent detention condi- tions for those serving long-term sentences.

52 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 Council of Europe Appendix Public statement by the CPT concerning the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation (issued on 10 July 2001)

Since the beginning of the current conflict in the ees (and any injuries they bore) was recorded; the staff who Chechen Republic, the European Committee for the Preven- completed that journal referred to the establishment first as tion of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or an “IVS” (temporary detention facility) and at a later stage as Punishment (CPT) has visited the North Caucasian region on a “temporary reception and distribution centre”. The Russian three occasions. For the last eighteen months, the Committee authorities have themselves, in earlier correspondence, has striven to maintain a constructive and sustained dialogue provided to the CPT written statements signed by officers with the Russian authorities on various issues related to the attesting to the fact that they worked in the detention facility treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in that part of during the period December 1999 to early February 2000 as the Russian Federation. Following an exchange of detailed well as written statements signed by persons who certified correspondence in May and June 2001, it has become clear that they were held at Chernokozovo during that period. that this dialogue has reached an impasse on at least two The Russian authorities’ contention that no detention issues of great concern to the CPT.1 Those issues relate to: facilities were established by public authorities at 1. events in the early stages of the conflict in a detention Chernokozovo during the period in question (and that, as a facility located at Chernokozovo, a village in the result, an inquiry of the kind requested can serve no purpose) North-West of the Chechen Republic; is clearly untenable and constitutes a failure to cooperate 2. action taken to uncover and prosecute cases of ill- with the CPT. treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the Chechen Republic in the course of the conflict. II. Quite apart from the specific question of the detention facility at Chernokozovo, the information gathered by the I. The information gathered by the CPT during its visits to CPT’s delegation in the course of its February/March and April the North Caucasian region in late February/early March and 2000 visits indicated that a considerable number of persons in April 2000 strongly indicated that many persons were deprived of their liberty in the Chechen Republic since the physically ill-treated in a detention facility at Chernokozovo outset of the conflict had been physically ill-treated by during the period December 1999 to early February 2000. members of the Russian armed forces or law enforcement Ever since the beginning of March 2000, the CPT has been agencies. In the report on those two visits, the CPT recom- urging the Russian authorities to carry out a thorough and mended that the Russian authorities redouble their efforts to independent inquiry into events at this detention facility uncover and prosecute all cases of ill-treatment of persons during that period. To date, an inquiry of the kind requested deprived of their liberty in the Chechen Republic in the by the CPT has not been carried out and the Russian authori- course of the conflict. The Committee made a number of ties have now made it clear that they have no intention of remarks of a practical nature intended to clarify the precise organising such an inquiry. A particularly disturbing aspect of form those efforts might take. More generally, the CPT the Russian authorities’ current position is their contention stressed that it was essential for the Russian authorities to that no facilities intended for accommodating detainees were adopt a proactive approach in this area. established by public authorities in the area of Chernokozovo The response of the Russian authorities to this key during the period referred to by the CPT. recommendation was very unsatisfactory. No concrete It is an indisputable fact that a detention facility information was provided as regards the action taken by the operated at Chernokozovo during the period December 1999 Russian authorities – and in particular by the prosecutorial to early February 2000, prior to the formal setting up in that services – to step up inquiries into the treatment of persons village of a pre-trial establishment (SIZO No. 2) by a Ministry deprived of their liberty by members of the Russian armed of Justice Order dated 8 February 2000. The CPT’s delegation forces or law enforcement agencies and to bring to justice interviewed many persons who stated that they had been those responsible for ill-treatment. held in a detention facility at Chernokozovo during that As was stressed in a letter sent to the Russian authori- period. Numerous Russian officials (prosecutors, investiga- ties on 10 May 2001, the CPT’s concerns in this regard are all tors, custodial staff) met by the delegation confirmed that the the greater given that in the course of the Committee’s most establishment designated as from 8 February 2000 as SIZO recent visit to the Chechen Republic, in March 2001, numer- No. 2 had prior to that date been used as a detention facility. ous credible and consistent allegations were once again The CPT is in possession of a copy of the medical journal of received of severe ill-treatment by Federal forces; in a number the establishment covering the period 8 November 1999 to of cases, those allegations were supported by medical 12 February 2000, in which the day by day arrival of detain- evidence. The CPT’s delegation found a palpable climate of fear; many people who had been ill-treated and others who 1 The CPT reserves the right to publish that exchange of corre- knew about such offences were reluctant to file complaints to spondence if this were to become appropriate. the authorities. There was the fear of reprisals at local level

Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 53 Council of Europe and a general sentiment that, in any event, justice would not legitimate but even essential that the CPT, a body set up with be done. It was emphasised to the Russian authorities that a view to strengthening the protection of persons deprived of they must spare no effort to overcome this deeply disturbing their liberty from torture and other forms of ill-treatment, state of affairs. take a direct interest in the activities of the authorities In its letter of 10 May 2001, the CPT called upon the empowered to conduct official investigations and bring Russian authorities to provide a full account of action taken criminal charges in cases involving allegations of ill-treat- to implement the above-mentioned recommendation. In that ment. connection, it requested details of measures apparently In the light of the Russian authorities’ reply, it is also envisaged to reinforce the different prosecutorial services necessary to recall what is meant in Article 2 of the Conven- involved in investigating allegations of ill-treatment, to tion by the expression “any place within [a State’s] jurisdic- improve co-operation between those services, and to ensure tion where persons are deprived of their liberty by a public a better follow-up of complaints of unlawful actions by authority”. Such a place may be a formally established and military forces and law enforcement agencies. The CPT also recognised detention facility; it may also be a railway car- made proposals designed to reinforce the support provided riage, a van, a shed, a garage, a warehouse, or any other to the criminal justice system by the forensic medical services improvised facility used by members of a public authority for in the Chechen Republic. Further, the CPT requested up-to- the purpose of depriving someone of their liberty. The CPT’s date information from both the Chechen Republic Prosecu- mandate and its powers under the Convention cover the tor’s Office and the Military Prosecutor’s Office concerning treatment of persons while they are deprived of their liberty cases which involve allegations of ill-treatment of persons in any such place. deprived of their liberty in the Chechen Republic. More The CPT is fully aware of the extremely difficult and specifically, the CPT asked for a detailed account of progress perilous circumstances confronting the Russian authorities as made concerning the criminal investigation into the deaths of a result of the conflict in the Chechen Republic and has kept those persons (apparently 53 in number) whose bodies were those circumstances constantly in mind. The CPT is also found on a datcha estate not far from Khankala in February aware that grave crimes and abuses have been committed by 2001. According to the information gathered during the combatants opposing the Russian forces; those acts should March 2001 visit, there were clear indications on some of the be strongly condemned. However, State authorities must bodies that the deaths were the result of summary execu- never allow their response to such a situation to degenerate tions; further, certain of the bodies had been identified by into acts of torture or other forms of ill-treatment; to refrain relatives as those of persons who had disappeared following from resorting to such acts – and to take active steps to their detention by Russian forces. The CPT underlined that stamp them out when they emerge – is one of the hallmarks this case could be seen as a test of the credibility of the of a democratic State. criminal justice system vis-à-vis events in the Chechen In ratifying the major human rights instruments of the Republic. Council of Europe, the Russian Federation has demonstrated In their reply forwarded on 28 June 2001, the Russian that it subscribes to the above-mentioned principle. Bearing authorities indicate that they are not willing to provide the that in mind, the CPT calls upon the Russian authorities to information requested or to engage in a discussion with the work in a constructive manner with the Committee in the CPT on the matters indicated above; they assert that such context of its activities in the Chechen Republic. The Russian matters do not fall within the Committee’s purview under the authorities have always shown good co-operation as regards European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and security and transport arrangements during the CPT’s visits Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Such an to the Chechen Republic; the same level of co-operation approach is inconsistent with the object and purpose of the should apply as regards the action taken upon the Commit- international treaty establishing the CPT and can only be tee’s findings and recommendations. qualified as a failure to co-operate with the Committee. The CPT regrets that it was found necessary to make It is axiomatic that one of the most effective means of this public statement. The Committee hopes that it will preventing ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty stimulate the efforts of both parties – acting in co-operation lies in the diligent examination by the relevant authorities of – to strengthen the protection of persons deprived of their all complaints of such treatment brought before them and, liberty in the Chechen Republic from torture and inhuman or where appropriate, the imposition of a suitable penalty. This degrading treatment or punishment. The CPT remains fully will have a very strong deterrent effect. Conversely, if the committed to continuing its dialogue with the Russian relevant authorities do not take effective action upon authorities. complaints referred to them, those minded to ill-treat persons deprived of their liberty will quickly come to believe that they can act with impunity. It is therefore not only CPT Internet site: http://www.cpt.coe.int

54 Human rights information bulletin, No. 54 4 Directorate General of Human Rights 4 Directorate General of Human Rights 4 Directorate General of Human Rights 1989 Finland Russia 1996 1949 Sweden Estonia 1993 1949 Norway Latvia 1995 1949 Denmark Lithuania 1993 1950 Germany Poland 1991 1993 Czech Republic Ukraine 1995 1956 Austria Slovakia 1993 1950 Iceland Moldova 1995 1949 Netherlands Romania 1993 1949 Belgium Georgia 1999 1949 Luxembourg Hungary 1990 1949 Ireland Bulgaria 1992 1949 United Kingdom Azerbaijan 2001 1949 France Armenia 2001 1963 Switzerland Turkey 1950 1978 Liechtenstein Cyprus 1961 1994 Andorra Greece 1949 1977 Spain “The former Yugoslav Republic of 1995 1976 Portugal Macedonia” 1995 1949 Italy Albania 1988 San Marino Croatia 1996 1965 Malta Slovenia 1993

Directorate General II – Human rights Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex Tel. +33 (0)388 41 20 00 Fax +33 (0)388 41 27 36 http://www.humanrights.coe.int