CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 27 avril 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 } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s33165EBA { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s83BE5C30 { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   233 27.04.2005   Press release issued by the Registrar   Contribution by the European Court of Human Rights to the Third Council of Europe Summit   The European Court of Human Rights has issued a memorandum, which will be available on its Website (www.echr.coe.int) as from today (27 April 2005), in which it outlines its proposal for a contribution to the Council of Europe’s Third Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held in Warsaw on 16-17 May 2005.   The memorandum calls for a long-term strategy to preserve the effectiveness of the human rights protection system set up by the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) in the face of the rising volume of cases with which the Court has to deal. In May 2004 the member States of the Council of Europe opened for signature a new Protocol (No. 14) to the Convention which will help the Court to cope with its growing case-load, when it enters into force, but the latest predictions of the number of applications from the 45 States to which the Convention applies [1] suggest that this may not be enough.   The Court therefore firstly urges States to take the necessary steps to ensure a speedy entry into force of Protocol No. 14, which must be ratified by all 45 States. But it also calls upon the Council of Europe to take the opportunity offered by the Third Summit to start reflecting on the long-term options. Fundamentally, the Court says, the Governments are faced with a choice about the nature of the international human rights protection machinery which must be provided to individuals in the Europe of the 21 st century. To take the issue forward they could mandate an independent group of eminent and experienced national and international judges and other experts to identify possible scenarios for the long-term future of the ECHR system.   The memorandum also stresses the importance of preparing for the accession of the European Union to the Convention, which is provided for in the EU Constitutional Treaty. The Summit should unequivocally call on the Council of Europe, the European Union and the member States to open negotiations in the near future on the EU’s accession to the ECHR.   ***   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.   [1]   Monaco is a Council of Europe member State, but has not yet ratified the Convention.