European Court of Human Rights Launches Major Reform

The Council of Europe agreed last week at a conference in Brighton, England to introduce reforms at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to make the institution more efficient and deal with a huge backlog of tens of thousands of cases.

Close to 90 percent of the applications to the Strasbourg-based ECHR are declared inadmissible.

Budgets will be increased, time limits for applications will be reduced and, under a stricter interpretation of existing provisions, legal avenues within a member state will need to be fully exhausted before applying to the European court.

As well, member states will need to apply ECHR rulings to cases involving similar facts in order to avoid them ending up back at the ECHR. And all member states will need to officially ratify the Brighton declaration, which is expected to be complete by 2013.

The ECHR hears complaints from individuals living in any of the member states of the Council of Europe about violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe is one of the continent's oldest political organizations, founded in 1949. It has 47 member countries.