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.