Strasbourg’s Interim Measures Under Fire: Does the Rising Number of State Incompliances with Interim Measures Pose a Threat to the European Court of Human Rights?

EUROPEAN YEARBOOK ON HUMAN RIGHTS, Vol. 11, 2011

29 Pages Posted: 15 Jul 2011

See all articles by Yves Haeck

Yves Haeck

Ghent University/Utrecht University; Utrecht University - School of Law

Clara Burbano Herrera

Ghent University

Leo Zwaak

Utrecht University

Date Written: March 1, 2011

Abstract

Being a daily working tool for the European Court of Human Rights to prevent irreparable damage to persons in a situation of extreme gravity and urgency, and thus to potential victims of violations of a right or freedom under the European Convention, ‘interim measures’ have over time acquired a growing importance in the Court’s case-law. Indeed, currently interim measures play a key role in many cases that are brought before to Strasbourg. Nonetheless, States, when faced with such measures requiring them to act, sometimes refuse to abide by them. This contribution aims to give an overview of recent State incompliances. It is argued that their number, both with regard to terrorism-related and non-terrorism-related cases is steadily growing, as is the number of perpetrators, not only among the ‘new’ Member States, but also among the ‘older’ Member States and even the ‘founding fathers’ of the Council of Europe, and that this can have a negative effect on the supervisory system as a whole. Some initiatives can, however, be taken by the European Court itself and the Committee of Ministers to improve and streamline the procedure with regard to interim measures, whereby all actors in the dispute may benefit.

Keywords: ECHR, European Court of Human Rights, Rule 39, interim measures, incompliance

Suggested Citation

Haeck, Yves and Burbano Herrera, Clara and Zwaak, Leo, Strasbourg’s Interim Measures Under Fire: Does the Rising Number of State Incompliances with Interim Measures Pose a Threat to the European Court of Human Rights? (March 1, 2011). EUROPEAN YEARBOOK ON HUMAN RIGHTS, Vol. 11, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1543945 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1543945

Yves Haeck (Contact Author)

Ghent University/Utrecht University ( email )

Universiteitstraat 4
Ghent, B-9000
Belgium
00 32 9 264 68 21 (Phone)
00 32 9 264 69 95 (Fax)

Utrecht University - School of Law ( email )

3508 TC Utrecht
Utrecht
Netherlands

Clara Burbano Herrera

Ghent University ( email )

Universiteitstraat 4
Ghent, B-9000
Belgium
00 32 9 264 68 23 (Phone)
00 32 9 264 69 95 (Fax)

Leo Zwaak

Utrecht University ( email )

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