CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 25 janvier 2005

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .s3C4DB099 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; font-size:10pt } .sFF596A0C { width:10.57pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   026 25.01.2005   Press release issued by the Registrar   President calls for speedy ratification of new Protocol     Speaking at the European Court of Human Rights’ annual press conference, held this morning in Strasbourg, the Court’s President Luzius Wildhaber called on Council of Europe member States to ratify Protocol No. 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights as rapidly as possible, so that the Protocol can enter into force at an early date.   “I believe it to be of the utmost importance that the member States of the Council of Europe ratify the Protocol as rapidly as possible.... We believe that the Protocol does provide helpful procedural tools to enable the Court to further streamline its procedures and speed up its adjudication of cases. We see the Protocol in particular as inviting the Court to devote more of its resources to substantial cases, so as to ensure that efficient filtering out of inadmissible cases is not achieved at the expense of the cases which raise real human rights issues, cases which contribute to strengthening human rights protection across Europe and developing human rights jurisprudence. It is these cases which the Court should be concentrating on, and by reducing the judicial input for plainly inadmissible cases and for straightforward well-founded cases Protocol No. 14 helps us to do that.”   Protocol No. 14, which amends the Convention system, is intended to guarantee the Court’s long-term effectiveness by optimising the screening and processing of applications. Opened for signature on 13 May 2004, it has so far been signed by 32 countries and ratified by six of those. It will enter into force once ratified by all the States party to the Convention.   The annual statistics published today show that the Court delivered 718 judgments in 2004, of which 588 gave rise to a finding of at least one violation of the Convention. The Court also declared inadmissible a total of 20,348 applications. The number of cases terminated increased by around 17.5% compared with 2003. In addition, it is estimated that the annual number of applications lodged with the Court rose to about 45,000 in 2004, an increase of approximately 16%.   ***   Further information about the Court can be found on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments.