Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
Legal Basis
As is known, the basis of the proceedings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The execution of judgments of the ECHR is included in Article 46 of the ECHR (paragraph 39§4 for the execution of friendly settlement agreement). Pursuant to this article, the States parties undertake to comply with the judgment of the ECHR (paragraph 1) and the implementation of the judgments of the ECHR by the States parties is supervised by the Committee of Delegates on behalf of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (EC).
Authorized Unit
The EC Committee of Ministers and its lower equivalent, the Committee of Delegates, are politically responsible for ensuring the execution of judgments of the ECHR. In technical terms, the competent unit with this control is the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR, which is structured under Human Rights Directorate within The EC Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law
Responsible Unit
Pursuant to Article 1 (c) of the Decree Law No. 650, which is the legal basis for the establishment of The Department Of Human Rights (Presidency /PDHR) within the Ministry of Justice, the Presidency was held responsible for the follow-up of the execution of judgment of the ECHR. Pursuant to this paragraph, the PDHR has been tasked with taking general measures regarding the execution of judgments of the ECHR about our country, communicating the judgments to the relevant authorities and following the processes for the elimination of the infringement.
Scope of Liability
In accordance with the cooperation protocol signed between the Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 14 November 2011, the coordination of the submitting observations before the ECHR has been taken under the responsibility of the Ministry and therefore the Presidency, with effect from 1 March 2012. Pursuant to Article 5.1 of the Protocol on the execution of judgments of the ECHR, “all proceedings for the execution of judgments shall be carried out by the Presidency”.
The Meaning of the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR
The execution of judgments of the ECHR requires, in the most general sense, the transformation of the applicant's situation into a state before the infringement and, if this is not possible, the payment of an appropriate compensation. The execution of judgments of the ECHR consists of two main elements; individual (special) measures and general measures. Individual measures are all measures or compensation to be paid that ensure the elimination of the causes that lead to the violation of the applicant's right. General measures consist of measures (legislative or implementation changes) that will ensure that the violation subject to the application is eliminated for everyone and thus prevent the continuation of the violation.
Follow-up of Execution
As mentioned above, the implementation of the judgments of the ECHR is monitored by the Committee of Delegates on behalf of the EC Committee of Ministers. The EC Committee of Delegates carries out this follow-up with the support of the experts of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR, as previously mentioned. Follow-up is carried out in two separate methods, the simple-standard method and the enhanced-intensive method.