CoE Secretary General says justice delayed is justice denied

”Justice delayed is justice denied”, says Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis, in an interview with CNA, on the non implementation of European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions by Council of Europe member-states.

Asked about the cases of Greek Cypriot pending before the ECHR, Davis referred to the judgment in the Xenides Arestis case delivered in December 2005, noting that the Court ”considered that Turkey had to introduce an effective remedy against violations of the European Convention on Human Rights identified in the Xenides Arestis case and in all other pending similar cases.”

Davis said that ”the remedies have been introduced, and the Court is expected to examine their effectiveness shortly.”

Referring to the Titina Loizidou case, Davis said ”the Committee of Ministers continues to examine the compliance with the judgment in the Loizidou case, but only with regard to individual measures, because the general question of property rights of displaced Greek Cypriots is followed up in the context of the Xenides Arestis case.”

”On the whole, I would say that there we have had some progress on this file, but a number of issues remain outstanding,” Davis noted.

Asked about Cyprus’ 4th Interstate Appeal against Turkey, Davis said ”the Committee of Ministers has regularly examined this case since the judgment was delivered in May 2001,” adding that ”it has noted progress on several points, especially related to the abolition of the excessive powers of the military courts and improvements in the rights to freedom of religion and of education.”

To a question regarding mainly the living conditions of those enclaved in the Turkish-occupied areas of the Republic, Davis said ”several other issues, notably regarding the property rights of the Greek Cypriots living in enclave settlements in the northern part of Cyprus, are also being examined by the Committee of Ministers.”

”An interim Resolution (2005)44 noted positive developments in this regard, and the Committee of Ministers plans to re-assess the situation in the near future,” he added.

Regarding the issue of missing persons in Cyprus, he said there has been progress, mainly due to the fact that the Committee on Missing Persons has resumed its work, as well as in the case of Titina Loizidou vs Turkey, although there are still some pending issues.

Asked how the immediate implementation of ECHR decisions by the Council of Europe member states is secured, Davis said ”justice delayed is justice denied” and noted that this ”also applies to the European Court of Human Rights.”

”A year ago, a prominent former judge and legal expert from the United Kingdom, Lord Woolf, looked into the working methods of the European Court of Human Rights and made seven specific recommendations to improve its functioning. A number of these recommendations are being implemented by the Court itself, and I have already implemented those which fall under my direct responsibility,” he noted.

Davis said ”we also expect that Protocol 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights will improve the efficiency of the Court when Poland and the Russian Federation ratify it the next few days.”

The Council of Europe Secretary General told CNA that ”a group of wise persons was established after the Third Summit of the Council of Europe in May 2005” and ”they are expected to make some recommendations about how to improve the efficiency of the Court before the end of the year.”

Responding to a question, Davis said the Council of Europe has ”a number of monitoring mechanisms to ensure compliance with its norms, values and principles.”

”There are two sorts of mechanisms: judicial and non-judicial. The

belongs to the first category. As for the second category, there are treaty-based and non-treaty-based monitoring mechanisms,” he explained.

Referring to the treaty-based mechanisms, Davis named ”our Conventions against torture, corruption, money laundering, terrorism and its financing, and trafficking in human beings, as well as our Conventions to protect national minorities or social and economic rights.”

”All these Conventions contain monitoring mechanisms to ensure respect for their provisions by the states which have ratified them,” he pointed out.

He noted that ”other non-treaty-based bodies are also very effective in scrutinising how the member states of the Council of Europe fulfill their obligations,” adding that ”these mechanisms include our Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and our Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ).”

”The Human Rights Commissioner also plays an important role in promoting human rights throughout our member states,” he said.

Davis told CNA that as Council of Europe Secretary General he has ”the legal right to initiate inquiries into how member states respect the European Convention on Human Rights, and I recently used these powers following the allegations of secret detentions and extraordinary renditions in Europe.”

”In this way, I have identified gaps in national legislation and practice related to the practical implementation of safeguards guaranteed by the Convention on Human Rights, and I have prepared a list of recommendations for future action,” he added.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37 per cent of its territory.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in property cases brought against Turkey by Greek Cypriots that they remain the legal owners of their land in occupied Cyprus. In one specific case, Ankara has paid compensation amounting to nearly one million US dollars to Greek Cypriot Titina Loizidou and was ordered to allow her access to her property.

Turkey maintains that the property issue must be settled through compensation alone and rejects any notion of giving Greek Cypriots the right to return.

On 22 December 2005 the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of violating the human rights of Xenides-Aresti, a Greek Cypriot refugee in terms of her property in the Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus and ordered Ankara to put in place, within three months, a mechanism to offer reparations.

The Court ruled that a property commission, set up in the Turkish-controlled north of the island, did not constitute effective domestic remedy for property claims by Greek Cypriots, whose property lies in the occupied north.

Myra Xenides-Aresti had claimed that Turkey violated her right to enjoy peacefully her property in the Turkish-occupied town of Famagusta.