NGOs call on government not to support initiatives to reform ECHR

A number of human rights nongovernmental organizations called upon the government not to support the initiatives on the reformation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) whereby the Court’s powers are limited, Info-Prim Neo reports. Vlad Gribincea, the head of the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, said that the UK, which now chairs the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, aims to reform the ECHR. “In January, in his speech addressed to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, British Prime Minister David Cameron underlined the main reform initiatives. The draft statement will be discussed in a high-level conference that will be held in Brighton on April 18-20,” Vlad Gribincea said during public debates on March 28. The British consider the Court should be reformed as it now has to deal with 150,000 applications. At the same time, the Court says it will be able to quickly process the overdue applications, said Vlad Gribincea. He believes that the main reason for the large number of complaints to the ECHR is the incorrect approach adopted by the authorities of some of the EU member states. “We are sure that a better protection of the human rights cannot be ensured by limiting the Court’s powers. This will negatively affect the observance of human rights, especially in such countries as Moldova,” said Vlad Gribincea. The NGOs urged the Moldovan authorities not to back the initiatives aimed at limiting the powers of the ECHR, but to support the work of the ECHR and to improve the implementation of the Court’s decisions at national level and the quality and transparency of the national procedures for naming judges at the ECHR. “Such a position is shared by over 80 British and East-European human rights NGOs,” said Vlad Gribincea. The call to the government was launched by the Human Rights Embassy, the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT, Promo-LEX Association, the Center for the Analysis and Prevention of Corruption, the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, the Resource Center for Human Rights CREDO, Soros Foundation Moldova, and the Moldova Institute for Human Rights.