The European Court of Human Rights: A Critical Appraisal - Essay Example

Along the principle of justice being denied when delayed, a group was commissioned to study how to improve the efficiency of the Court, and this resulted in an amendment to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms or Protocol 14.6 Protocol 14 made a number of changes, subject to universal ratification by all Council of Europe member states. One of these is that a single judge can decide whether a case is admissible where before, three judges decided.

Moreover, the Committee of Ministers can ask the Court for an 'interpretation' of a judgement to help determine the best way a member state may comply with it. 7 Problems of inadmissibility and repetitions of cases was revealed at the European Ministerial Conference on Human Rights in November 2000.8 By 2003, some 60% of the 703 judgments given by the Court concerned were repetitive cases, and in the same year, 96% of applications considered were declared inadmissible.9 Counter reviews on t. As posed by Kirby, 10 it is the business of those in the legal field to strive for justice and ensure that there is harmony between the rules of law and the needs of justice.

This means that what obtains with the ECtHR is largely the business of human rights lawyers. "Practical human rights achievements are secured, in large part, by political agitation, community activism and good lawyering," Kirby said. In reports about the ECtHR, or on topics that have to do with it, "lawyers have skills in legal analysis, in sifting facts, in expounding the applicable rules, finding infractions and in presenting observations about unacceptable practices," and it is time to use them, he said.

Goldston11 referred to this as social change litigation.II. ECtHR and AdvancesOne of the advances made in the role of ECtHR as reported by Kirby 12 is in obliging the member states to align their laws into conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights. As an example, in Norris v Ireland, following a like decision in Dudgeon v United Kingdom, the ECtHR found that Senator Norris, by being penalized under Irish criminal law, making him liable to punishment for consensual adult homosexual conduct in private, had his rights violated with respect to his private life.

As a result, Ireland reformed its criminal law in 1993, abolishing old offences and setting a non-discriminatory age (17) for lawful sexual conduct. 13 Article 3 and Article 5 are among those being reviewed by nation states with vigilance in the wake of renewed interest for human rights by citizens. Article 3 says, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.14 Article 5 is longer and involves the right to liberty and security of person, and contains provisions