EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ACTION / Alla Tymofeyeva (ed.)

CHAPTER II. EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

1. ABOUT THE COURT The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR/Court) is an international court set up in 1959. It rules on individual or State applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the Convention. Since 1998 it has sat as a full-time court and individuals can apply to it directly. In almost fifty years the Court has delivered more than 10,000 judgments. These are binding on the countries concerned and have led governments to alter their legislation and administrative practice in a wide range of areas. The Court’s case-law makes the Convention a powerful living instrument for meeting new challenges and consolidating the rule of law and democracy in Europe. The Court is based in Strasbourg, in the Human Rights Building designed by the British architect Lord Richard Rogers in 1994 – a building whose image is known worldwide. From here, the Court monitors respect for the human rights of 800 million Europeans in the 47 Council of Europe member states that have ratified the Convention. The number of judges on the Court is the same as that of the States Parties to the Convention (47 at present). The judges are elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from lists of three candidates proposed by each State. They are elected for a non-renewable term of nine years. Although judges are elected in respect of a State, they hear cases as individuals and do not represent that State. They are totally independent and cannot engage in any activity that would be incompatible with their duty of independence and impartiality. “National judges” cannot sit in a single-judge formation. In exceptional cases, they may be invited to sit on a Committee. However, the composition of the Court always includes the “national judge” when it hears cases as a seven-judge Chamber or a seventeen-judge Grand Chamber. The Registry is the body of staff that provides the Court with legal and administrative support in its judicial work. It is made up of lawyers, administrative and technical staff and translators. The Court’s expenditure is borne by the Council of Europe, whose budget is financed by contributions from member States in accordance with scales based on population and GDP. The budget covers the salaries of judges and staff and the various overheads (IT, official travel, translation, interpreting, publications, representational expenses, legal aid, fact-finding missions, etc.). 2. THE COURT’S STRUCTURE According to the Convention, the Court hears the cases by one of its four main formations:

1) Single judge (1 judge); 2) Committee (3 judges); 3) Chamber (7 judges); and 4) Grand Chamber (17 judges).

Manifestly inadmissible applications are examined by a single judge. A three-judge Committee may rule by a unanimous vote on the admissibility and merits of cases that are already covered by well-established case-law of the Court. An application may also be assigned to a seven- judge Chamber which rules by a majority vote, mostly on the admissibility and merits of a case. Exceptionally, the Grand Chamber of 17 judges hears cases referred to it either after relinquishment of jurisdiction by a Chamber or when a request for referral has been accepted.

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EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ACTION