New EIN toolkit on domestic advocacy for the implementation of Strasbourg Court judgments

The European Court of Human Rights continues to act as a ‘beacon of hope’ for victims of human rights violations denied justice at the national level. But unless judgments are properly implemented, a case won in Strasbourg does not translate into sustained human rights gains.

Civil society plays a crucial role in driving implementation forward, both in Strasbourg and domestically. While levels of civil society engagement at the Council of Europe level have been on the rise, more civil society engagement is needed on the ground, at the national level, to promote the full and effective implementation of human rights judgments.

But how best to push domestically for the implementation of judgments? Over the course of the past year, EIN has tapped into the collective knowledge and experience of its members and partners from across Europe, and collected good practice examples of how domestic civil society actors effectively engage with the authorities, form advocacy alliances, and use the media to promote implementation in their countries.

This has culminated in a new EIN Guide for civil society on domestic advocacy for the implementation of Strasbourg Court judgments. This latest EIN resource was launched on Tuesday, 19 May, at a webinar attended by some 150 participants.

Discover the video of the webinar on our YouTube channel.

The examples compiled in this guide show that, where NGOs have sought, identified and pursued opportunities for engaging with the authorities, where they have formed alliances with other civil society actors and used the media to drive implementation forward, they have managed to secure important human rights gains.

We hope that civil society actors in Europe will draw inspiration from the best practices and lessons learned presented in this toolkit. Because the conditions for effective implementation vary from country to country, from time to time and even from case to case, this guide does not provide a blueprint, one-size-fits-all approach to domestic advocacy for judgment implementation. Instead, it is conceived as a ‘menu’ of potential strategies, tools and actions that NGOs could take at the national level to push for the execution of judgments. The readers are encouraged to pick and choose those elements of this guide that are most relevant to them.

This guide is also a ‘living document’. It seeks to spark a wider conversation among civil society about how to use advocacy at the domestic level to push for the implementation of judgments. We therefore warmly invite our readers to send us feedback, and share their own experiences with domestic advocacy for the implementation of Strasbourg Court judgments with us. So please get in touch!

Important changes to the June CM/DH meeting due to COVID-19

The Committee of Ministers has just announced important changes to its forthcoming June Human Rights (DH) meeting. Here is what you need to know:

1. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the June CM/DH meeting has been divided into two parts:

• A one-day meeting (DH meeting 1377) will be held on Thursday, 4 June 2020. At this meeting, some of the cases on the agenda for the June meeting will be examined through a written procedure. These are cases where the member states agree with the draft decisions prepared by the Secretariat. No debate will take place on 4 June. The decisions adopted at this meeting will be published on 4 June.

• The remaining cases on the order of business of the 1377th meeting will be examined by the CM at a physical meeting to be held on 1-3 September 2020 (meeting 1377bis).

2. The autumn CM/DH meeting (meeting 1383) had been postponed by one week, namely to 29 September - 1 October. The indicative list of cases for this meeting will be approved by the CM by written procedure and published on 4 June 2020. Some of the cases that were originally foreseen to be examined at the June meeting may be transferred to this meeting.

For those of you that have made Rule 9 submissions and/or were planning to engage in domestic advocacy around cases scheduled for examination in June, this has the following implications:
a. We do not currently know, and probably will not know before 4 June, which cases will be examined by written procedure, and which cases will be examined at one of the meetings in September.
b. If you want to make a submission on a case originally scheduled for examination in June 2020, or update the submission you have already made, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Rule 9s relating to cases to be dealt with at the 1377bis meeting will only be reflected in the Notes on the agenda if received before 30 May. After that date they will be distributed to the CM as usual.
c. If your case is scheduled for examination at the 1383rd meeting from 29 September - 1 October and you want to make a (first or updated) Rule 9 submission, make sure to do so by end July if you want to ensure that it is reflected in the Notes on the agenda. But, as always, the sooner you can make your submission, the better.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with the EIN Secretariat if you have any questions.