The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, has called for further efforts to implement judgments from the European Court of Human Rights.
Commenting on the annual report for 2024 on the execution of the Court's rulings, published, the Secretary General said: "This report shows what a concrete, positive impact judgments from the European Court of Human Rights have on the daily lives of the people of Europe. While a lot has been achieved, more needs to be done. The efficient execution of the Court's judgments is essential for the rule of law and democratic accountability in Europe."
The annual report from the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers shows that 992 cases were transferred from the European Court of Human Rights to Committee, which supervises their implementation by member states, in 2024.
Of those 992 new cases, 194 were "leading" cases - often requiring action to be taken by states to prevent the same violations happening again - and 798 were repetitive cases, based on known problems that had already been identified by the Court.
A total of 894 cases were closed by the Committee of Ministers during 2024, including 161 leading cases and 733 repetitive cases. At the end of the year, a total of 3,916 cases were pending full implementation, including 1,149 leading cases and 2,767 repetitive cases.
Despite considerable challenges caused by Russia's on-going war of aggression, Ukraine again continued to actively engage in the implementation of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights in 2024, resulting in the closure of 75 cases (including three leading cases).
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- The Annual Report for 2024 on the Supervision of the Execution of Judgments and Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights includes country-by-country information on new cases, pending cases and cases closed for all 46 Council of Europe member states, plus an overview of the main developments during the year.
- Cases concerning the Russian Federation are not included in the figures above. At the end of 2024, there were 2,867 cases - including 244 leading cases - pending full implementation by the Russian Federation, which remains legally obliged to implement them under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights.
