Modifications Provided by Protocol No. 14 Concerning Proceedings Before the European Court of Human Rights
AbstractThe accumulation of the increasing number of applications to be examined and decided entails the serious danger of a progressive breakdown of the European Convention on Human Rights machinery which, if it is not efficaciously dealt with, would betray its raison d'être, which is to secure for victims of violations of the Convention and its relevant Protocols an international judicial mechanism for remedying violations within a reasonable period of time. It therefore became necessary to adopt without delay certain measures directed at saving the Convention's machinery from its own demise owing to the exponential increase in the number of individual applications. Such measures are incorporated into Protocol No. 14, opened for signature in Strasbourg on 13 May 2004, whose purpose, stated in the preamble, is precisely to "maintain and improve the efficiency of the control system for the long term, mainly in the light of the continuing increase in the workload of the European Court of Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe", safeguarding at the same time the "pre-eminent role" of the Court "in protecting human rights in Europe".