Procedure for applying to the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

In this article, the authors explore the theoretical and practical aspects of the procedure for addressing the European Court of Human Rights. Many citizens of the Republic of Moldova apply to the European Court of Human Rights for the protection of violated rights. For several years and as a result of various factors, the Court has been overwhelmed by the number of individual applications. However, the vast majority of these applications (over 95%) are rejected, without being examined on the merits, because they did not meet one of the admissibility criteria provided by the European Convention on Human Rights. This situation creates a double frustration. On the one hand, having the obligation to respond to each request, the Court does not have the opportunity to focus, within a reasonable time, on cases that require a substantive examination, and this is of no real use to litigants. On the other hand, the actions of tens of thousands of applicants are rejected without appeal, often after years of waiting. The proposals of the authors, who must increase the guarantees of human rights protection, are very important.