The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR; French: Cour européenne des droits de l’homme) is a supra-national or international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights. It hears applications alleging that a contracting state has breached one or more of the human rights provisions concerning civil and political rights set out in the Convention and its protocols. An application can be lodged by an individual, a group of individuals or one or more of the other contracting states, and, besides judgments, the Court can also issue advisory opinions. The Convention was adopted within the context of the Council of Europe, and all of its 47 member states are contracting parties to the Convention. The Court is based in Strasbourg.
The Court was established on the 21 January 1959 on the basis of Article 19 of the European Convention on Human Rights when its first members were elected by the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe. The Convention charges the Court with ensuring the observance of the engagement undertaken by the contracting states in relation to the Convention and its protocols, that is ensuring the enforcement and implementation of the European Convention in the member states of the Council of Europe. The jurisdiction of the Court has been recognised to date by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe. In 1998, the Court became a full-time institution and the European Commission of Human Rights, which used to decide on admissibility of applications, was abolished by Protocol 11. The accession of new states to the European Convention on Human Rights following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 led to a sharp increase in applications filed in the Court. The efficiency of the Court was threatened seriously by the large number of pending applications, which were accumulating and increasing steadily. In 1999 8,400 applications were allocated to be heard. In 2003 27,200 cases were filed and the number of pending applications rose to approximately 65,000. In 2005, the Court opened 45,500 case files. In 2009 57,200 applications were allocated, with the number of pending applications rose to 119,300. At the time more than 90 percent of them, were declared to be inadmissible, and the majority of cases decided, around 60 percent of the decisions by the Court related to what is termed repetitive cases, where the Court has already delivered judgment finding a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights or where well established case law exists on a similar case. Protocol 11 was designed to deal with the backlog of pending cases by establishing the Court and its judges as a full-time institution, by simplifying the procedure and reducing the length of proceedings. However, as the workload of the Court continued to increase, the contracting states agreed that further reforms were necessary and in May 2004 the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers adopted Protocol 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Protocol 14 was drafted with the aim of reducing the workload of the Court and that of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which supervises the execution of judgments, so that the Court could focus on cases that raise important human rights issues.
The building is located on the eastern corner of the water intersection, where the Ill river is crossed by the Canal de la Marne au Rhin. The court was formerly located in a building located just across the canal, which was built in 1965 and designed by Bertrand Monnet, J. Apriell and Papillard. The new building was designed in 1989 by the Richard Rogers Partnership Ltd (London) and Claude Bucher (Strasbourg). They intended to create a “symbolic landmark but not a monument”. They also, due to the nature of the court, wanted to make it more welcoming and open rather than fortress-like. The original design was stretched as, during design, the demand for office space grew by 50% due to the fall of communism in the east. The building relies on natural light and ventilation, except the light entrance hall which is air conditioned in an energy saving manner. The two main organs of the court, the court and commission, occupy two large circular chambers each side and offices are located in a “tail” stretching behind the building.
The building has 28,000 square metres of floor space. The Court Room covers 860 square metres and has 260 seats, with an extra 49 for judges and 33 for applicants (the deliberation room has 47 places with an additional 52 seats). The Commission Room covered 520 square metres and has 41 seats with 30 places for applicants. Other meeting rooms (in total there are 11) cover 4500 square metres and have an average of 47 places around table, plus 52 at the rear. The 420 offices cover 16,500 square metres and in total the building has capacity for 600 people. There is also a Projection room with 204 seats and a 180 seat cafeteria.
