The European Court of Human Rights takes stock of the year 2021 and announces changes

The results of 2021 were announced at the press conference held by the President of the European Court of Human Rights Robert Spano, accompanied by Marialena Tsirli, the Registrar of the Court, and Abel Campos, the Deputy Registrar on 25 January 2022.

In 2021 the Court ruled on more than 36,000 applications. The number of Grand Chamber or Chamber judgments rose to 428 (relating to 1,037 applications), an increase of 9% compared to 2020. The number of pending applications increased by 13%, resulting in 70,150 applications at the end of 2021. 70% of the pending cases concerned four countries: the Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine and Romania.

A new strategy for processing “impact cases” was introduced in 2021. These are the cases that raise issues of great importance for the applicant and the respondent State or for the development of the Convention system in general. As of 1 January 2022, more than 500 cases fell into this category, and concerned freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, wiretapping and secret surveillance of journalists, pandemic cases, discrimination against sexual minorities, the right to information and environmental nuisance.

Furthermore, from 1 February the time-limit for bringing a case before the European Court of Human Rights will be four months.

The President emphasised that, despite the serious challenges facing the Court, which were emblematic of events in the wider European legal space and in the world at large, “the Convention’s core purpose is and has always been exactly to meet the test of precarious times like these. Preserving at all cost the principles of democratic governance and the rule of law has now become more vital than ever. Let’s never forget : A world without these fundamental principles is a world that is no longer free.”

You can find additional materials including the statistics of cases grouped by State, here.

Source: Official website of the European Court of Human Rights

Photo from the Video recording of the press conference