The Council of Europe has published the second edition of Bringing a case to the European Court of Human Rights - A practical guide on admissibility criteria.
The guide helps legal practitioners properly advise their clients on their chances of bringing an admissible application, with the aim of reducing the future number of inadmissible cases. The ECHR Blog says that the European Court of Human Rights is currently overloaded with cases, with 90 % of all applications eventually being declared inadmissible. These cases clog up the Court’s list and obstruct its examination of more deserving cases.
Click here to read the ECHR Blog article about the guide.
Click here to access the guide itself.
Meanwhile, EU Justice Commissioner Vivane Reding has announced a "Justice Scoreboard" to rank the rule of law in the EU. The scoreboard would measure the strengths and weaknesses of the justice systems of each Member State by evaluating judicial "strength, efficiency and reliability." EUobserver.com says that claims of the deteriorating rule of law and justice in Hungary and Romania prompted the proposal.
The proposal is expected to be introduced in the European Commission's annual growth survey, which contains recommendations for future policy initiatives, before the end of the year.
Click here to read an EUobserver.com article on the issue.
In other news, there will be a full-day plenary session rule of law issues at the UN Headquarters on 24 September. The session will be streamed live - you can watch it here. Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda made a following statement to the UN Human Rights Committee on 12 September.