CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 17 avril 2008

.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 } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   278 17.4.2008   Press release issued by the Registrar   Visit to the Court of the French Minister for Foreign Affairs     President Jean-Paul Costa has received a visit from Mr Bernard Kouchner, French Minister for Foreign and European Affairs. In welcoming the Minister, who was distinguished at the Court not long ago on receiving the Human Rights Award, President Costa commended his personal commitment to human rights and said that his visit represented a strong gesture of support for the European Court of Human Rights. The President explained to the Minister the Court’s current situation and the problems facing it (particularly as a result of Protocol No. 14 not having been ratified by Russia). He also referred to the essential measures to be taken in order to ensure the independence of judges, especially in terms of welfare cover and pensions.   The Minister declared that he was visiting the Court to show his support for an institution that could not possibly be undermined. He considered that the right of individual application was a unique system in the world and of fundamental importance. He undertook to help the Court by contributing to the resources, especially financial and human, that it required in order to function efficiently. He also expressed his support for the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights and commented that the forthcoming French presidency of the European Union would provide a good opportunity to take that forward. Mr Bernard Kouchner concluded the meeting by declaring: “The European Court of Human Rights is a beacon for the whole world”.     ***   Further information about the Court can be found on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   Press contacts Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Paramy Chanthalangsy (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 91) Sania Ivedi (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 59 45)   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.