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'Finishing off' cases: the radical solution to the problem of the expanding ECtHR caseload'

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 05:25 authored by Marie-Benedicte Dembour
It is widely agreed that the European Court of Human Rights is in crisis; a "victim of its own success", with an ever-increasing caseload and a backlog of over 18,000 applications pending. This article critically examines various proposals for alleviating the problem, as submitted by the Working Party on Working Methods of the European Court of Human Rights. The author argues that while it is clearly necessary to ensure that the Court functions as efficiently as possible, this should not be achieved at the expense of undermining the right of individual petition. In particular it is contended that eliminating "warning letters", transferring most decisions of inadmissibility to three-judge committees, expanding the grounds of inadmissibility, dispensing with giving reasons for declarations of inadmissibility, avoiding fact-finding missions and pushing for friendly-settlements are all measures that undermine the very principle of democratic justice which lies at the heart of the Court's existence.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

European Human Rights Law Review

ISSN

1361-1526

Publisher

Sweet & Maxwell

Volume

5

Page range

604-623

Pages

19.0

Department affiliated with

  • Law Publications

Notes

The Human Rights Kurdish Project sought and received permission to republish it in its Legal Review (2003, Vol.3 pp 26-48).

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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