Journal of Social Welfare and Human Rights

Who will protect Our Rights from the European Court of Human Rights?
Mihail Ekimdjiev

Abstract
The article poses the question what is going on at the European Court of Human Rights, having in mind the unsatisfactory results of its activity. In 2013 alone some 89 737 applications were declared inadmissible, because the admissibility criteria laid down in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms were not fulfilled, though some of those applications are legally and factually similar to “Bulgarian” cases decided by the same court in favor of the applicants. Gradually the European Court of Human Rights has become Eastern European, in order to answer the human rights problems in the region. The accession of dozens of Eastern European and semi-European countries tipped the balance of power among the judges in the Strasbourg Court composition. The external pressure from tens of thousands of new applications, combined with the internal ideological and value discord drove Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms into institutional stupor. The Strasbourg Court chose a way out by suppressing the symptoms of the problem, not by reducing the number of violations but by reducing the number of applications, by discouraging the people relying on its protection. The purpose is the survival of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as an institution and of its employees at the expense of the victims of violations. The Court continues to work mainly to its own benefit, failing the legitimate expectations and last hope for justice of thousands of people.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jswhr.v2n2a5