All member states of the Council of Europe are obliged to implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and thereby prove their commitment to respect for fundamental human rights and the values on which the Council of Europe was founded.
This is one of the key conclusions of the regional conference "Obligation to execute decisions of the European Court of Human Rights", which was organized in Podgorica by the Delegation of the European Union and the Office of the Council of Europe.
Today's conference brought together representatives of constitutional courts and judicial bodies of the countries of the region, state bodies of Montenegro, the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.
The host of the conference, Montenegro, is strongly determined to fully respect the rights of its citizens, but also the judgments of the court in Strasbourg, which is the most competent to assess the violation of those rights.
"The Statute of the Council of Europe stipulates that human rights, the rule of law and democracy are the most important values of the member states. The European Court of Human Rights today represents the conscience of a Europe united in diversity. Two attributes make this court magnificent - the right to an individual petition, because the citizen becomes a subject of international law, equal to the strongest of states and the richest of governments. Another attribute is the international legal mechanism for monitoring the execution of Court judgments. Each member state has undertaken to implement every judgment of the Court. As the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister from here, I am proud because Montenegro leads the way in the timely and fair execution of court judgments and can serve as an example to other member states of the Council of Europe. Such an approach will be continued, with the simultaneous development of national institutions for the protection of human rights and freedoms. No verdict is to the detriment of Montenegro, but gives us guidelines on how to develop the legal order and strengthen human rights and freedoms for the benefit of citizens", said the Vice President of the Government of Montenegro and Minister of Justice Zoran Pažin.
The conference in Podgorica was attended by the representatives of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia before the court in Strasbourg, who spoke about the experiences of their countries, as well as the head of the department in the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Katarina Nedeljković.
"When it comes to Montenegro, the number of petitions before the European Court is not large compared to countries in the region. Nevertheless, in relation to the percentage of executed judgments, Montenegro has been among the most successful member countries of the Council of Europe for years. The data on the decrease in the number of unexecuted judgments in the countries of the region are encouraging, and especially the fact that the host country of this conference - Montenegro, has at this moment only two open issues in the execution of the Court's judgments. If the main goal of every court is to ensure respect for rights, in this case human rights and freedoms, it is important to establish effective national mechanisms that will ensure better respect for these rights, and this is a topic we constantly discuss with colleagues from the region, even today. The exchange of good practices and experiences is crucial for the quality execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and the efficiency of the convention system. "Today's meeting is a big step in that direction and can serve as an inspiration for further strengthening regional cooperation," said Nedeljković.
On the way to membership in the European Union, respect for human rights is an area in which there is no compromise, and the European Union invests significant efforts in strengthening the institutions that implement domestic laws and international conventions in practice.
"The EU funds this and similar projects, designed to improve the application of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights at the national level. The amount of 700,000 euros is intended for activities aimed at increasing the capacity of judges, prosecutors and lawyers in order to better apply human rights protection standards in their daily work. In the last Progress Report, we noted that Montenegro continued to ensure a good level of cooperation with the European Court of Human Rights. The government continues to enter into friendly settlements in cases related to the length of the proceedings and non-enforcement of domestic decisions. Montenegrin institutions and the judiciary are increasingly aware of the rights protected by European conventions, but the application of the standards of the European Court of Human Rights in practice needs to be improved," said Aivo Orav, head of the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro.
With the support of the European Union, the Council of Europe implements the "Horizontal Facility" program for the Western Balkans and in Turkey, a part of which is the conference on the execution of court judgments in Strasbourg, which works under the auspices of the Council of Europe.
This joint program provides support to the countries of the Western Balkans in overcoming challenges related to the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, in order to ensure that citizens can fully enjoy the rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.
"Enforcement of judgments will prevent rights violations in the future, that's why it is also important as a preventive measure. Judgments are excellent for identifying problems, and it is up to the states to find solutions so that human rights violations are not repeated. The Council of Europe, with the support of the EU, is ready to support the countries of the region through concrete measures, examples and experiences of other countries. It is important to strengthen the judiciary and all mechanisms of the state that protect human rights", said the head of the Department for Southeastern Europe and Turkey of the Council of Europe, Daniel Šmit.
Statistical data illustrating the experiences of the countries of the region before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg were also presented at the conference.
Citizens of all countries approached the court most often in the previous year due to the violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time before the domestic judiciary, and Montenegro remained among the top five European countries in terms of the number of court petitions in relation to the number of inhabitants.
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