Back Advisors of the Constitutional Court discussed the application of the quality of law and proportionality tests in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts

Advisors of the Constitutional Court discussed the application of the quality of law and proportionality tests in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts

The joint European Union and Council of Europe action „Strengthening human rights protection in Serbia“ organised on 12 April in Belgrade, in co-operation with the Constitutional Court, a training for around 50 advisors of the Constitutional Court on the application of the quality of law and proportionality tests before domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights.

The president of the Constitutional Court Snežana Marković stated in her opening speech that for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in Serbia, it was important to know and to apply case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in cases before the Constitutional Court. She also noted that „the role and importance of the advisors in the work on cases and drafting of the Constitutional Court decisions is often not recognised or emphasised well enough.“

Consultant of the Council of Europe, former judge of the Supreme Court and of the Constitutional Court Katarina Manojlović Andrić highlihted in the training that the most important novelty in the work of the Constitutional Court is that it has started to implement in its decisions on the abstract control of constitutionality and legality human rights standards established by international organisations, most notably by the European Court of Human Rights. Evgueni Boev, senior legal advisor in the European Court of Human Rights, presented to participants through an overview of relevant case-law  main views of the European Court of Human Rights on this issue.

Through questions and answers and discussion with the panelists that was moderated by the judge of the Constitutional Court Nataša Plavšić many issues which are important for the work of the advisors, both in the abstract control procedure and the work on the constitutional complaints, were elaborated.

This training was organised within activities that the action „Strengthening human rights protection in Serbia“ implements with the aim to strengthen capacities of domestic insitutions to implement the European Convention on Human Rights at domestic level. The action is a part of the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe „Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye“, implemented by the Council of Europe.

Belgrade 12 April 2024
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The action “Strengthening human rights protection in Serbia” is designed to facilitate and contribute to the protection of human rights in Serbia by and before domestic judicial authorities in line with European human rights standards.

This action is implemented within the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” running from 2023 until 2026.

 

What is the goal and objective of the action?

The main objective of the action is to ensure that right-holders in Serbia enjoy their rights in line with the European human rights standards and benefit from high-quality service of the judicial system.

 

Who benefits from the action?

  • Judiciary and future legal professionals in Serbia will benefit from the action by having access to training and resources that improve their ability to handle human rights related cases and execute the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
  • People of Serbia will benefit from the action by having their human rights better protected at the domestic level.
  • Judicial Academy, Government Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, Law Faculties, Ministry of Justice, the Constitutional Court, The Supreme Court of Cassation Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office and Ministry of European Integration, will benefits from the action by having access to the Council of Europe expertise and being supported in their institutional/administrative capacity building activities.

 

How does the action work?

  • through conferences/capacity building activities/round tables/placements to strengthen the knowledge of (future) legal professionals
  • by facilitating dialogue among the judiciary and other stakeholders for the purpose of more coherent implementation of the standards set out by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) at the domestic level
  • through streamlining the process of the execution of ECtHR judgments, the action will involve capacity-building activities, experts' legislative assessments and awareness-raising activities focusing on the execution process and its importance in the domestic human rights protection
  • the action builds on the best practices and results of co-operation under previous two phases of the programme: action “Supporting effective remedies and mutual legal assistance in Serbia” (2016 – 2019) and “Strengthening the effective legal remedies to human rights violations in Serbia” (2019 – 2022)

 

What do we expect to achieve?

  • the mechanism for the execution of the ECtHR judgements in relation to Serbia is strengthened, as well as the position of the Government’s Agent before the ECtHR as de facto co-ordinator of the execution process at the domestic level
  • the capacity of legal (future) professionals to protect and promote human rights by applying the ECHR provisions and the ECtHR case-law in their daily work is reinforced

 

What is the budget of the action?

The total budget of the action is 1 000 000 EUR.

The budget allocated to the overall Horizontal Facility programme amounts to ca. 41 million EUR (85% funded by the European Union, 15% by the Council of Europe).

 

How to get more information?

 

About Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye

The “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” is a joint initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe that enables the Western Balkans Beneficiaries and Türkiye to meet their reform agendas in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy and to comply with the European standards, which is also a priority for the EU enlargement process.