EIN Webinar: Towards an effective domestic advocacy strategy for the implementation of ECHR judgments

On 8th October, EIN organised a 3rd webinar for representatives from National Human Rights Institutions. The first two webinars took place respectively on 10th and 17th September.

Attended by representatives from the Legal Working Group of ENNHRI, EIN partner in this initiative, this third webinar focused on the advantages of domestic advocacy in achieving concrete progress on human rights at the national level. Best practices were used to illustrate:

·        What other advocacy avenues are available to NHRIs to work on ECtHR judgment implementation at the domestic level, and

·        How they can hold the government to account about their overall record on implementation.

After introductory remarks by EIN Director George Stafford, Mirela Buturović, Legal Affairs Advisor, explained how the office of the Ombudswoman of the Republic of Croatia is promoting an open and early dialogue with all relevant stakeholders at the national level, when working on ECHR judgment implementation.

Mirela Buturović, Legal Affairs Advisor, office of the Ombudswoman of the Republic of Croatia

She presented in particular the National Council of Experts for the Execution of the Court’s judgment in Croatia, but also other structures used by the Croatian NHRI to reach out to NGOs and experts and get useful input on general measures needed for ECHR judgments implementation, such as the Anti-Discrimination Network. Such alliances have proven to be very efficient to achieve progress on key pending cases, such as the Secic v Croatia case on racist attacks against a person of Roma origin. Her power point presentation is available here.

Greece also offers an interesting example of what can be done, domestically, to work on hate crimes, and push for the implementation of ECHR judgments in this field. Indeed, in 2011, the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR) initiated the creation of a Racist Violence Recording Network (RVRN).

Representatives from the GNCHR , Ms Baka and Ms Charopokou, as well as the assistant coordinator of the RVRN, Ms Anastasopoulou, were present to share their experience. Participants were able to learn more about the overall strategy set up by the GNCHR to push for implementation of ECHR judgments, which combines efforts both at the domestic and at the Strasbourg level.

Their presentation clearly showed that such a combination of domestic-based and international tools was instrumental in progress being achieved in key cases, such as the Manolada (Chowdury) case or the Sakir case.

The full video of the webinar will soon be available on the ENNHRI website.

A 4th webinar will be held on 22nd October, focusing on the CM supervision process and how NHRIs can write effective Rule 9 submissions.