The 47 members of the Council of Europe have adopted a declaration to reform the backlogged European Court of Human Rights.
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Switzerland, which currently holds the chairmanship of the council’s committee of ministers organised the two-day conference in Interlaken try to tackle the problems facing the Strasbourg court.
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and Justice Minister Eveline Wider-Schlumpf represented Switzerland at the conference.
The declaration seeks to reduce the number of inadmissible applications, which make up 90 per cent of the complaints received, while ensuring that the measures taken do not dissuade well-founded cases.
It also calls for a better implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights on a national level and for countries to fully execute the court’s rulings.
The first measures are to be implemented by June 2011. A review of the declaration goals will be made after five years.
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