"Ten years of reforms, known as the Interlaken Process, have strengthened the system of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)", notes the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers (CM) in its Annual Report 2019 on its supervision of the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
The report states that "cases are now being closed more quickly and the number of pending cases is consistently falling", although it remains "considerable" and "many new challenges lie ahead".
Among these challenges, the Chairs of the CM's human rights meetings - Jean-Baptiste Mattei of France, Irakli Giviashvili of Georgia and Panayiotis Beglitis of Greece - point out: "problems of capacity of domestic actors, problems of resources, insufficient political will or even clear disagreement with a Strasbourg ruling".
The CM intends to respond to this by showing "persistence and tenacity in its Convention role, through a dialogue that is both constructive and candid" with Member States in order to obtain "full redress" to the victims and to address "on the broader level the causes and the factors underlying such infringements".
On the latter point, the report shows that between 2010 and 2019, there were 2,120 new "leading" cases highlighting structural and/or systemic problems at national level. 2,287 such cases were closed, representing a closure rate of 108%. Between 2000 and 2010, there were 1,470 new leading cases and only 602 leading cases were closed, a rate of 41%. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)