Brussels, 09/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - The United Kingdom has just taken over the six-month chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers. In a press release on Tuesday 8 November, Amnesty International urged the UK to guarantee the “independence and authority” of the European Court of Human Rights. It called, too, for the European Convention on Human Rights to be implemented nationally. The calls come at a time when the UK has expressed unhappiness with a number of Court rulings, for example, on the civil rights of prisoners, with the Tories of David Cameron wanting to reassert the country's sovereignty over the convention, ratified by the UK in 1951, or even withdraw from it.
“The Court's independence and authority is essential for protecting human rights throughout Europe”, says Amnesty and “Council of Europe member states must also do more to implement the European Convention on Human Rights nationally and ensure timely and full compliance with the Court's judgements”.
The UK, during its period of chairmanship, will, inter alia, seek to reduce the backlog of cases, Amnesty says, and also intends to seek agreement on further measures to reform the Court, such as charging applicants fees and additional admissibility criteria. The intention is also to ensure the Court plays a subsidiary role where member states fulfil their obligations under the Convention and the Court leaves “a wide margin of appreciation to national authorities in its judgements”, Amnesty continues. “These objectives must not result in restricting the scope of the Court's jurisdiction”, the press release goes on to state. The UK will hold the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers until May 2012. (SP/transl.rt)