Bid to improve ECtHR judge-selection process
The Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly (PACE) has backed a resolution aimed at improving the way it elects judges for the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The resolution adopted includes a proposal to end the “automatic and indefinite” extension of sitting judges’ mandates beyond their nine-year term, limiting such extensions to one year.
The parliamentarians also call on the council’s Committee of Ministers to consider revising its guidelines on the selection of candidates to become ECtHR judges, “with a view to further refining the requirements for national selection procedures based on good practice”.
Delays
The resolution also says that an advisory panel of experts that advises governments on candidates should be given “an explicit mandate” to advise member states on whether their national selection procedures comply with the Committee of Ministers’ guidelines and good practice.
PACE members also expressed concern about delays by some governments in submitting candidate lists.
The parliament said that, at a time when the council’s rights system was facing “unprecedented challenges”, it was “more important than ever” to strengthen the ECtHR’s authority.
The resolution, it added, was aimed at “ensuring that all its judges possess the highest level of competence, independence, and impartiality, and that the procedure for electing them is fair, transparent and efficient”.