EU welcomes Russia's ratification of rights court protocol
Russia - EU
(BRUSSELS) - The European Union on Friday welcomed Russia's ratification of a key protocol on overhauling the European Court of Human Rights, after years of resistance from Moscow.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement the EU "welcomes the ratification of Protocol 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights by the Russian Federation, which allows its entry into force."
The application of Protocol 14 will reinforce the convention and make the Strasbourg-based court "more effective and efficient, thereby strengthening its crucial role in the protection of human rights in Europe," she added.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed off Thursday on the law ratifying the protocol, giving the reform a green light after years of reluctance.
Earlier this year the Russian parliament agreed to ratify Protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, aimed at streamlining the work of the Strasbourg-based court and reducing its backlog of cases.
The Duma had rejected the protocol in 2006 amid complaints from some lawmakers that the Strasbourg court was anti-Russian.
Russia is the biggest source of pending cases at the court. Some 27,000 cases out of the 112,000 cases awaiting review by the court originated from Russia, according to the Russian foreign ministry.
Many of those cases have focused on conditions in Russian prisons and abuses committed by government forces in war-torn Chechnya.
Russia was the last member of the 47-nation Council of Europe to ratify the protocol.
Moscow's move allows the entry into force of the protocol which also provides an enabling clause for the European Union to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights as a legal body.
At present all 27 nations within the EU are signed up to the human rights convention individually.
"All the EU member states are already covered by the (human rights) convention but... the EU joining up will be a clear recognition of its status a s a juridical entity," which is enshrined in the bloc's recently ratified Lisbon Treaty, said EU Commission spokesman Michele Cercone.
This was likely to happen next month, he added.
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