Supervision of the execution of judgments and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights 2020 - 14th Annual Report of the Committee of Ministers (2021)

Progress despite Covid in 2020, but further efforts are needed

The Committee of Ministers’ annual report presents an overview of major developments concerning the execution of judgments and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. It also provides statistics concerning notably new, pending and closed cases, action plans and reports submitted by respondent States, as well as just satisfaction awarded to applicants.

Despite the difficulties linked to the pandemic, 2020 saw a significant reinforcement of the execution process, through a record number of communications from civil society organisations and national human rights institutions and the first ever submission to the Committee of Ministers of a Rule 9 communication by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, swiftly followed by four more.

Notwithstanding, serious challenges continue to be raised in the context of the execution of many cases, in particular those concerning inter-state and other cases related to post-conflict situations and unresolved conflicts, “Article 18” judgments concerning abusive limitations of rights and freedoms and systemic/structural problems, such as illtreatment or death caused by security forces and ineffective investigations, as well as non-Convention compliant detention conditions.

In order to successfully cope with these challenges, member States’ capacity for rapid, full and effective execution of the Court’s judgments needs to be strengthened and accompanied by further high-level political commitment as well as support from the Council of Europe.

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