arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Backlog in European Court of Human Rights; Finland wary of plans to trim away cases

Extensive reforms are being considered for the European Court of Human Rights. The aim of the proposed changes is to maintain viable operations under the pressure of a growing backlog of human rights appeals against decisions of national courts in the European Union in recent years.
A working group headed by Irish ambassador Justin Harman speaks openly of a crisis, and proposes radical measures to deal with the situation. The report is to be discussed next week at a meeting of a Ministerial Committee in Strasbourg. The Finnish representative at that meeting will be Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja (Soc. Dem.).
Finland has made it clear that it takes a somewhat sceptical view of some of the proposals of the working group.
According to Arto Kosonen, an official at the legal section of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the most controversial proposal will be to heavily prune away cases coming before the court. Even now, most appeals brought before the European Court of Human Rights are dismissed as being "without foundation". The working group would impose even tighter limits.
In the view of the working group, even some appeals that do have merit could be dismissed if the violation of human rights is considered small or insignificant.
"The implementation of the proposal would mean that some complaints would not be handled at all. From the point of view of the plaintiff, the issue can be very important. It is our view that all kinds other superfluous matters can be taken away, but people must have the right to make an appeal and get a decision", Kosonen emphasises.
In the view of the Harman working group, the proposed changes would not significantly weaken the protection of the citizens provided by the European Convention on Human Rights, because the primary responsibility for enforcing the convention is with national officials and courts. The European Court of Human Rights is a secondary body for enforcing the treaty.
The working group feels that choices must be made. If it tries to handle all of the cases before it, the court will slowly sink. The other option is that it would focus its attention on cases which merit attention on the basis of an overall assessment.
In the view of Arto Kosonen, the difficult situation in the European Court of Human Rights has not affected cases involving Finland very much. He says that the court has enough staff to deal with the Finnish appeals, although the oldest Finish cases date back to 1995.
"Seven years is a very long time, especially considering that the cases will have been under review in Finland for five or six years", Kosonen points out.
He feels that the process could be considerably speeded up if cases could be handled by smaller panels of judges, especially in the earlier stages. In Kosonen's view, a three-judge panel is excessively heavy when a decision needs to be made on whether or not a case merits a hearing.
Kosonen suggests: "If power were given to the best lawyers of the court's secretariat, the judges would be able to concentrate on cases of real merit."

Helsingin Sanomat
http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20011105IE5