The report states that 2,073 leading cases, highlighting important structural problems, have been closed since the “Interlaken” reform process began in 2010, due to constitutional, legislative and other significant reforms introduced by Member States.
This is according to the latest from the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.
It says another 6,796 “repetitive” cases have been closed by the committee in the last two years alone as a result of steps taken by the Member States to provide redress, including damages, to individual applicants.
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The number of leading cases still pending was down to 1,248 at the end of 2018, the lowest figure since 2010, and the total number of cases yet to be fully implemented - including repetitive cases - reached its lowest level since 2006.
Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland said, “Judgments from the European Court of Human Rights have improved people’s lives in many different ways across the whole continent, but they mean little if they are not put into practice”.
“The report clearly shows that we are moving in the right direction. Many complex and long-standing problems have now been resolved, but there is still much work to be done.”
The convention system has been the Council of Europe’s first and foremost achievement in its 70-year history, according to the chairs of the Committee of Ministers’ human rights meetings in 2018.
“The report clearly shows that we are moving in the right direction. Many complex and long-standing problems have now been resolved, but there is still much work to be done” Thorbjørn Jagland, Council of Europe Secretary General
However, they underline that important challenges remain, including persistent shortcomings in national implementation of the convention.
The report gives examples of recent achievements in many Council of Europe Member States resulting from the implementation of European Court of Human Rights judgments.
It also provides country-by-country figures on new cases, cases closed and pending cases as well as “just satisfaction” awarded by the court in 2018.
The Committee of Ministers closed a total of 2,705 cases in 2018, including record numbers of cases concerning the Russian Federation (385), Turkey (372) and Ukraine (318).
Of the total cases closed, 289 were leading cases, highlighting new structural or general problems, and 2,416 were repetitive cases.
Some 6,151 pending cases remained under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers at the end of the year, including 1,248 leading cases and 4,903 repetitive cases.