MP Kostis Efstathiou, member of the Cypriot delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), participated today in a meeting of the PACE Legal and Human Rights Committee in Paris.
As Rapporteur of the Committee on the enforcement of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Mr Efstathiou presented the 11th Report of the Committee. The enforcement of the Court's judgments, he said, is a top responsibility of the Organisation, largely determining the extent, quality and effectiveness of the human rights protection system throughout the Council of Europe's territory.
Efstathiou focused on the most serious unenforced cases, but also on the Member States of the Organisation that systematically fail to comply with ECtHR judgments and accumulate the highest number of unenforced judgments. These cases, the Cypriot MEP pointed out, are indicative of the serious systemic and structural problems that exist at national level, which hamper the enforcement of judgments and the administration of justice.
Efstathiou noted that the Report contains recommendations to national authorities for faster and better compliance. He underlined that parliaments can make a complementary and substantial contribution in this direction by adopting the necessary legislation and exercising the necessary control over the executive in this crucial area. Furthermore, Mr Efstathiou pointed out that the Report also contains recommendations to the Committee of Ministers for the establishment of transparent criteria for the evaluation of unfinished cases, in particular in relation to the decision that the Committee of Ministers may take to close the supervision of a decision. Finally, he stressed the importance of the work carried out by the ECtHR, describing the confidence of European citizens as crucial to further safeguard the credibility and proper functioning of the institution.
Following an extensive discussion of individual aspects of the Report, the Commission unanimously adopted the relevant preliminary resolution and the recommendation of the 11th Report, which is expected to be discussed and adopted at the forthcoming Plenary Session of the CSCE next April.
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