Russia and International Human Rights Law: Summer School in Estonia

This summer Martens Summer School on International Law organizes lectures devoted to Russia and International Human Rights Law.

Dates: 29 July – 3 August 2012

Place: University of Tartu premises in Pärnu, Estonia

The topics and lecturers will be the following:

• “Human Rights in Russian Courts – an NGO Perspective” (Dr Anton Burkov, Yekaterinburg; NGO “Sutyazhnik”);

• “ European Convention on Human Rights and Russia (Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights: A Judge’s View)” (Judge Anatoly Kovler, European Court of Human Rights);

• “The History of International Law and Human Rights in Russia – a Key to Understanding Today’s Debates” (Professor Lauri Mälksoo, University of Tartu);

• “The Place of International Law in Russia’s Legal System: Doctrine and Practice” (Professor Sergei Marochkin, Tyumen State University).

Deadline for applications is 4 June 2012.

For more information on eligibility requirements, application process and study fees please visit the link.

Most of the cases pending before the ECHR concern Russia

The official site of the ECHR reports that on 26 January 2012 the Court held its annual press conference, where the President of the Court, Sir Nicolas Bratza, presented the Court’s annual statistics for 2011. [For more information see the following documents: Annual Report 2011, Facts and Figures 2011  and Table of Violations 1959-2011]

Statistics for 1959-2011:

At the end of 2011, more than 151,600 cases were pending before the Court. And most of them are against Russia (26.6% of the total workload or 40,250 cases). The Court has delivered 14,854 judgments since it was established in 1959. 1,212 out of these judgments concern Russia. Only in 49 cases against Russia the Court found no violation of the Convention. Most often Russia violated the following provisions of the Convention:

- the right to a fair trial (Article 6) – 570;
- protection of property (Article 1, Protocol No.1) – 456;
- right to liberty and security (Article 5) – 422;
- inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 3) – 357;
- right to life (Article 2) – 202.

Statistics for 2011:

64,547 applications were allocated to a judicial formation in 2011. Russia topped the list of the countries in this category with 14,465 applications against it. However, the majority of the applications against Russia (12,223) was struck out of the list or declared inadmissible.

In 2011 the Court delivered 1,157 judgments, 133 of which concerned Russia. This is the second highest number after Turkey (174). Only in 10 cases against Russia the Court found no violation of the Convention. Most often Russia was found responsible for violation of the following Article of the Convention:

- right to liberty and security (Article 5) – 68;
- prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 3) – 62;
- right to life (Article 2) - 53;
- right to respect for private and family life (Article 8) – 56;
- right to an effective remedy (Article 13) – 58;
- right to a fair trial (Article 6) – 40.

Based on analyses of the Court’s judgments concerning Russia delivered in 2011, most of the cases where Russia violated the right to life concerned forced disappearances in Chechnya. Violation of Article 3 of the Convention (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) usually happened due to either the condition of the applicants’ detention or their ill-treatment in custody by police and other law enforcement officers.