The IX Annual International Forum on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights was conducted through the video conferencing on 9 and 10 December. It was organised by the Supreme Court, National School of Judges of Ukraine, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, and the Council of Europe project “Further support for the execution by Ukraine of judgments in respect of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights” funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund.
Ms Hanne Juncher, Head of Justice and Legal Cooperation Department of the Council of Europe, opened the event stating that it was aimed to consider how Ukraine could further facilitate the implementation of the Council of Europe standards to increase the efficiency ofthe justice system and improve its legislation, institutional frameworks in the areas of human rights, rule of law, and democracy. This would also assist Ukraine’s efforts in meeting its obligations as the Council of Europe member state. She also stressed that the Ukrainian authorities must protect human rights by adopting and implementing laws and practices, which protect the right to a fair trial and ensure effective access to justice for all. Therefore, a closer exchange of information and best practices is required, and the forum was one of the avenues for that.
With a view to ensuring the enforceability of rights under the European Convention on Human Rights at the national level, special attention was given to the issue of non-execution of judgments identified in the Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov/Burmych judgments. During the event, the Head of Division of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe – Mr Pavlo Pushkar, and the Deputy to the Section Registrar of the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights – Mr Hasan Bakirci, made presentations, highlighting the requirements of Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights from the point of view of the Strasbourg Court, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and the future of the execution of the mentioned ECtHR judgments.
Among other things, the forum addressed the challenges in the application of the right to a fair trial (under Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights), various issues of the execution by Ukraine of the European Court of Human Rights judgments (namely, the Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov/Burmych judgments and the Oleksandr Volkov group of judgments), as well as the mechanisms for improving the interaction with the European Court of Human Rights through the implementation of Protocol No. 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights.
In general, up to 500 active participants took part at the online conference for two days and up to 1500 passive participants – through the YouTube channel.
ADDITIONAL WEB-LINKS FOR THE EVENT:
http://nsj.gov.ua/ua/news/mijnarodniy-forum-z-praktiki-evropeyskogo-sudu-z-prav-ludini/
https://hcj.gov.ua/news/larysa-shvecova-vzyala-uchast-u-ix-mizhnarodnomu-forumi-z-praktyky-yespl
