NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

“Council of Europe Member States which have already ratified the CIS Convention should be asked to issue a legally binding declaration confirming that the procedure set out in the ECHR [the Convention] cannot in any way be replaced or weakened through recourse to the procedure of the CIS Convention… Council of Europe Member States which have signed but not yet ratified the CIS Convention should be asked not to ratify the CIS Convention and to adhere only to the provisions of the ECHR [the Convention].“ 82 For this reason, we will only speak further about the four mechanisms listed above. The current study does not aim to conduct the ultimate research on the notion of the term ‘non-governmental organisation’ in all the regional human rights instruments. It is primarily designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the term ‘NGO’ only in the one regional treaty, namely, the European Convention on Human Rights. Consequently, the characterization of this term in other international documents serves only a descriptive purpose in order to be able to make an understandable comparison, and accordingly to illustrate the particularity of the notion ‘non-governmental organisation’ in the sense of the Convention. The European system for human rights protection is the oldest and the most developed; therefore, it deserves special attention and will be covered in the next section. Now, we will focus on the human rights treaties in the Americas, Africa and Asia. 1.1.3.1 American, African and Asian human rights documents American human rights mechanisms Among the basic documents in the Inter-American system, are the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention on Human Rights. The first if them, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, 83 does not contain any reference to NGOs. The American Convention on Human Rights also does not contain the term ‘NGO’ in its text. According to Article 44, among the list of persons who may lodge petitions with the Commission are ‘any person or group of persons, or any nongovernmental entity legally recognized in one or more member states’ 84 of the Organization of American States (OAS), which are the State parties to the American Convention on Human Rights. The term ‘non governmental entity’ used here seems to be wider and may include many different structures. The important condition under this Article is that such a structure has to be officially registered in a member state, which ratified this American Convention. The Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights also do not use the term ‘non-governmental organisation’. Only in Rule 58 (c) we can read that the Inter-American Court may request ‘any entity, office, organ, or authority of its choice to obtain information, express an opinion, or deliver a report or pronouncement of Independent States and the European Convention on Human Rights. Report, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, doc. 90753, May 2001. 82 Ibid. 83 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. Ninth International Conference of American States, Bogotá, Colombia, 1948. 84 American Convention on Human Rights of 22 November 1969, San Jose, Costa Rica.

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