Dec 10-HUMAN RIGHTS Day - Massimo Rogero - Club President for UNESCO of Genoa

 

Dec 10-HUMAN RIGHTS Day

Every year, on December 10, the international community celebrates Human Rights Day, to commemorate that day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declarations of Human Rights

On the occasion of Human Rights Day, this year also marks the 70th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In the wake of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights was opened for signature on 4 November 1950.

The Convention has spread across the continent over the last 70 years and now it protects the human rights and fundamental freedoms of over 830 million people from 47 countries.

Thanks to the Convention, the implementation of which is supervised by the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, Europe has the strongest human rights protection system in the world. This is something we can all be proud of.

Over 20.000 judgments delivered by the Court and implemented by the member states of the Council of Europe have improved the lives of ordinary citizens in many different ways and across the entire continent.

The Convention has also made numerous positive changes thanks to its internal application by the national authorities and contributed to an improvement in fundamental rights standards in other parts of the world.

However, there are still about 60.000 pending appeals before the Court and over 5.000 of its judgments have not yet been fully implemented. These figures remain too high and require coordinated efforts between the Council of Europe, the Court and the 47 member states. Work must also be done to ensure that the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights can protect people in every corner of the continent and under any circumstances.

Nevertheless, if we forget that these results are never achieved permanently, they may disappear. Defending rights is a constant fight and still a lot to do.

The biennial 2019-20 marked the end of 10 years of reforms. The number of cases pending before the Court has been reduced by more than half and significant improvements have been made in the execution of judgments.

However, 60.000 applications are still pending and more than 5.000 sentences have not yet been fully implemented.

These figures remain too high and require a coordinated effort by the Council of Europe, the Court and the Member States to ensure justice is done and systemic problems are tackled in order to prevent repeated violations.

Work will also be necessary to ensure that the Convention effectively protects people on every corner of the continent, including unresolved conflict zones, and under all circumstances.

The European Union's membership of the Convention, the process of which was revived in 2019, will be a positive development in this respect, opening a new chapter in the long and illustrious history of the Convention ".

Massimo Rogero

Club President for UNESCO of Genoa