The Right to an Effective Remedy, protected under the Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), contains key guarantees for individual’s access to remedies for human rights violations that must be effective in practice as well as in the law. Article 13 has no independent existence, but it can be applied only in conjunction with one or more Articles of the ECHR of which a violation has been alleged.

These and other relevant issues of the scope and practical application of the Right to an Effective Remedy were explored by participants of two-day workshop on “Access to Effective Legal Remedies”, organised by the project “Support to the Constitutional Court in Applying and Disseminating European Human Rights Standards -Phase II”, in cooperation with Kosovo* Justice Academy. 25 judges of regular courts and prosecutors reinforced knowledge and understanding of relevant standards and caselaw of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) involving violations of the Article 13 ECHR, in light of the violation of Articles 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and other Articles of the Convention. They analysed both important elements of this right, including the availability and the effectiveness of legal remedies.

To this end, very productive discussions developed around the subsidiary role of the ECtHR to national systems safeguarding human rights. Participants deepened understanding on how Article 13 ECHR gives effect to the principle of subsidiarity in European human rights protection machinery, by establishing that domestic mechanisms must first be exhausted before individuals may have recourse to the ECtHR, reinforced also by the admissibility criteria to ECtHR defined in the Article 35 ECHR. It was highlighted that this principle reflects the fundamental role of national judicial systems in ensuring the respect of human rights standards, as an integral part of the Convention system.

The workshop was continuation of project’s fruitful collaboration with national judicial training institutions in capacity building of legal professionals on ECHR standards through the practice of the ECtHR. In accordance with needs of beneficiaries, project will organise additional training activities and further facilitate judicial dialogue involving legal practitioners from regular courts of all instances, Constitutional Court of Kosovo*, prosecutors, and lawyers of Kosovo* Bar Association.   

[1]All references to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions, or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United National Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.