A Parliamentary Perspective on the Implementation of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

Abstract As a member of the Assemblée nationale, the lower house of the French Parliament, from 2012 to 2017, the author was part of the French delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), where he was entrusted with preparing, as a rapporteur for the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, a report on the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. This practice note underscores that it is the responsibility of PACE as an institution, and of its members individually, to follow closely the issue of the implementation of European Court judgments, even if the primary responsibility for supervising implementation, or ‘execution’, lies with the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. PACE can provide useful solutions where the implementation of judgments pertaining to long-standing or systemic problems is stalled or protracted, notably through field missions carried out by members and in particular by its rapporteur, which can complement the efforts deployed by the Committee of Ministers.