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Paraskeva, Costas (2009) The relationship between the domestic implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the ongoing reforms of the European Court of Human Rights. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
The ECtHR has become a “victim of ongoing reforms”, since the constant efforts to streamline and reinforce the system proved to be inadequate in managing the challenge of its ever-increasing caseload. There has been widespread agreement that further reforms to the ECHR mechanism are required in order to cope with the serious influx of cases from the 47 member states of the CoE. However, the success of any proposed reform does not depend only on the ECtHR itself but also on the clear willingness of member states to comply with their obligations under the ECHR.
This thesis analyses the set of the five Recommendations referred to in the 2004 Declaration of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in order to encourage member states to take effective domestic steps to ensure appropriate protection of the ECHR rights at the domestic level, in full conformity with the principle of subsidiarity and the obligations of member states under Article 1 of the ECHR. The five recommendations aim at improving the quality of national laws, the effectiveness of remedies, including the reopening of domestic procedures to give effect to the ECtHR judgments, and the awareness of the requirements of the ECHR, including those ensuing from the judgments of the ECtHR, by measures in the fields of publication, dissemination, education and training.
This thesis argues that the struggle for ensuring the survival and effective operation of the ECtHR should triumph at the national level. Consequently it could be said that the heavy burden for compliance falls to member states. The 2004 Recommendations target the root of the problem and they are appropriate prescriptions for a healthy future.
The central finding of this thesis is that the 2004 Recommendations are a technical vehicle for implementing the ECHR in the domestic legal orders of member states.
They are wise guidelines stemming directly from the ECHR to assist member states in their efforts to improve the protection of human rights in their domestic legal order.
The Recommendations require member states to act preventatively to ensure that the right systems are in place rather than seeking to take action after violations have occurred.
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