The Right to Trial Within a Reasonable Time and Short-Term Reform of the European Court of Human Rights
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APPLYING AND SUPERVISING THE ECHR The right to trial within a reasonable time and short-term reform of the European Court of Human Rights 100 95 Round table organised by the Slovenian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe 75 Bled, Slovenia, 21-22 September 2009 25 5 COUNCIL CONSEIL OF EUROPE DE L’EUROPE 0 The right to trial within a reasonable time and short-term reform of the European Court of Human Rights Round Table organised by the Slovenian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Bled, Slovenia, 21-22 September 2009 Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs Council of Europe Ministry of Justice Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Slovenia Édition française : Le droit d’un procès dans un délai raisonnable et la réforme à court terme de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme. Table ronde organisée par la présidence slovène du Comité des Ministres du Conseil de l’Europe, Bled, Slovénie, 21-22 septembre 2009 The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the repective contributors and do not engage the responsibility of the Council of Europe or the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. They should not be regarded as placing upon the legal instruments mentioned in it any official interpretation capable of binding the governments of member states, the Council of Europe’s statutory organs or any organ set up by virtue of the European Convention on Human Rights. CIP – Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 347.9(4)(082) 342.7:347.99(4)(082) The RIGHT to trial within a reasonable time and short-term reform of the European Court of Human Rights: Round Table organised by the Slovenian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Bled, Slovenia, 21-22 September 2009. – Ljubljana: Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Ministry of Justice, 2009 ISBN 978-961-6566-18-6 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) 249041664 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Justice Republic of Slovenia © 2009 Council of Europe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia Printed at the Council of Europe Contents Foreword . 5 Welcome address Mr Aleš Zalar, Minister of Justice . 6 Part One: Ways of protection of the right to a trial within a reasonable time – countries’ experiences Dr Marco Fabri, Senior Researcher and Acting Director, Research Institute on Judicial Systems, National Research Council (IRSIG- CNR), Bologna, Italy . 10 Mr Jakub Wołąsiewicz, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, Government Agent of the Republic of Poland before the European Court of Human Rights. 22 Dr Pim Albers, Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Justice of the Netherlands . 26 Dr Vít A. Schorm, Government Agent of the Czech Republic before the European Court of Human Rights . 37 Prof. Dr Alan Uzelac, Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, Croatia . 41 Prof. Dr Aleš Galič, Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. 71 Mr Jakub Wołąsiewicz, Chairperson of the Committee of Experts on effective remedies for excessive length of proceedings (DE- RE). 88 Dr Bogdan Aurescu, Venice Commission, Council of Europe. 90 Ms Corinne Amat, Head of Division, Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights . 98 Discussion 1. 103 Round Table, Slovenia, 21-22 September 2009 3 Part Two: Introduction. 116 Between Madrid and Interlaken – Bled discussions Short-term reform of the European Court of Human Rights Ms Simona Drenik, Head of the International Law Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia. 118 Mr Erik Fribergh, Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights . 121 Dr Almut Wittling-Vogel, Vice President of the Steering Committee for Human Rights . 124 Dr Frank Schürmann, Agent of the Swiss Confederation before the European Court of Human Rights . 128 Mr Erik Fribergh, Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights . 132 Dr Vít A. Schorm, Member of the Bureau of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) . 143 Dr Frank Schürmann, Agent of the Swiss Confederation before the European Court of Human Rights . 149 Dr Michał Balcerzak, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law and Administration, Nicholaus Copernicus University, Poland. 152 Ms Nuala Mole, Director, The AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) . 157 Mr Alexandre David, Magistrate, Ministry of Justice, France . 162 Prof. Dr Andrea Gattini, University of Padova . 168 Prof. Dr Polonca Končar, President of the European Committee of Social Rights, Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana . 173 Ms Jill Heine, Legal Advisor, Amnesty International. 180 Discussion 2. 185 General conclusions . 202 Programme of the Round Table . 203 Participants Bled (Slovenia), 21-22 September 2009 . 206 4 Right to trial within a reasonable time & short-term reform of the Court Foreword Aiming to contribute to the efforts to improve the efficiency of the European Court of Human Rights within the existing legal system, the Slovenian Chair- manship of the Committee of Ministers organised a Round Table in Bled, Slov- enia on 21-22 September 2009. Part One of the Round Table aimed to look at countries’ experiences of ways of protection of the right to a trial within a reasonable time, in particular: national models of legal remedies for protection of the right to a trial within a reasonable time; best practices, including administrative ones, for the enforce- ment of these remedies; types of just satisfaction associated with them; and the institutional reactions of, for example, the judiciary, ombudsmen and others to the regulation and implementation of these remedies. Part Two addressed the issue of the short-term reform of the European Court of Human Rights, including the identification of the aims of the new Protocol No. 14 bis to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Madrid agree- ment on the provisional application of certain provisions of Protocol No. 14, the assessment of the possible development of practices concerning class actions or collective applications in the context of the problem of repetitive applications and an exchange of views on ideas and goals for the short-term reform of the European Court of Human Rights. The Round Table concluded with the adoption of general, non-binding con- clusions on the various issues discussed. Round Table, Slovenia, 21-22 September 2009 7 Welcome address Mr Aleš Zalar Minister of Justice Respected lecturers, representatives of institutions of the Council of Europe, representatives of the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs and other bodies of the member states of the Council of Europe, and representatives of the judici- ary, the State Attorney’s Office and the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia: As of 12 May 2009, Slovenia has had the honour of holding the presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, i.e. the international organisation on a European level that has been striving for the provision and development of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the rule of law and democracy since 1949. As the Minister of Justice of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, I am honoured that the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with the Council of Europe, will organise the Round Table on Ways of Protection of the Right to a Trial Within a Reasonable Time and on Short-Term Reform of the European Court of Human Rights in Bled, Slovenia. I believe that this Round Table is one of the most important contributions to the development of the pro- tection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the field of judicial pro- tection of rights and freedoms, especially in the field of protection of the right to a trial within a reasonable time. The field of the protection of the right to a trial within a reasonable time is, unfortunately, one of the most exposed legal fields in Europe or in most of the member states of the Council of Europe. I deliberately use the word “unfortu- nately” because in the contemporary rule of law system, no recognised or sys- tematic court backlogs should exist, and violation of the human right to a trial within a reasonable time should be an exception dealt within the framework of general measures of court management in courts. We are aware, however, that in some member states of the Council of Europe or in State Parties to the Euro- 8 Right to trial within a reasonable time & short-term reform of the Court pean Convention on Human Rights, this is not the case. They have court back- logs; cases of the parties to court proceedings are mostly not dealt with within a reasonable time. Therefore, we can assess that in most cases there is an actual occurrence or a subjective impression of the occurrence of “the denial of the right”. From a national perspective, I can emphasise that in Slovenia we made an effort regarding the judgement in 2005 in the case of Lukenda v. Slovenia to define, by statute, effective legal remedies for the protection of the right to a trial within a reasonable time, i.e. through the Act on the Protection of the Right to a Trial without Undue Delay from 2006. In July 2009, we additionally amended and reinforced this Act so as to define additional protection of the rights of the parties to court proceedings and additional responsibilities or actions by the courts' presidents when deciding on legal remedies of the parties to court pro- ceedings in order to accelerate the resolution of their cases. Irrespective of the above statements and all the associated measures regard- ing the reduction of court backlogs that are relatively successful, I have to say that the Act on the Protection of the Right to a Trial without Undue Delay is not a panacea, i.e.