France, Strasbourg, Jan. 27 /Trend A. Maharramli/
Measures taken to improve the work of European Court give effective results, Nicolas Bratza, President of the European Court of Human Rights said on Thursday at the press conference during PACE winter session.
He noted that the principles of human rights, rule of law and justice should not lose its significance in the current economic conditions and political priorities. "In order to better protect human rights by the European Court it needs mutual support and close cooperation among all 47 member states of the Council of Europe" - said Bratza.
He noted that European Court don't need only the financial support. "Most importantly, its independence and authority not to become a victim of domestic political purposes. And it would be good if the criticism advanced by the States was not based on emotions but on the basis of reasonable arguments. Protection of Human Rights is a shared responsibility," - said Bratza.
The Chairman also spoke about the measures taken to improve the efficiency of European Court.
"A number of measures was implemented to improve the efficiency of the European Court. Among them a pilot implementation of court decisions, new priority policy (review of critical complaints in the first place) and the application of Protocol 14. Thanks to these measures increased the number of complaints addressed within a year" - said Bratza.
Report on the activities of the European Court for 2011 also was circulated at the conference.
According to the report, currently 151,600 claims awaiting consideration by the Court. 40 250 of them are from Russia, 15 950 are from Turkey, 13 750 from Italy, 12 300 from Romania and 10250 from Ukraine.
Also a list of countries with the largest number of decisions handed down in 2011 was promulgated. 159 decisions were issued in respect of Turkey, 121 - Russia, 105 in respect of Ukraine, 69 - Greece, 58 - Romania and 54 in regard to Poland.
The report also includes information on Azerbaijan. Currently, the European Court has 1692 unreviewed complaints related to Azerbaijan. In 2011 from Azerbaijan to the European Court was sent 532 complaints. In 2010 there were 337, in 2009 - 361, and 334 complaints in 2008.
Azerbaijan acceded to the European Convention on Human Rights in January 2001.