5. Fill in the blanks with the proper words and word combinations:

Indifferent , higher level , fundamental freedoms ; war, verdict, international law, protection, behavior, multitude of measures; maintenance of peace; community.

Only after the Second World ____1___ it was possible to apply a new dimension to the regulations of the human rights ____2____ . The horrors of this war could not leave anybody ____3____ . Then the international ____4_____declared that only the justice could decide on the actions committed during this inhuman war. The tribunal from Nuremberg was a first crucial stage that reached a __5____ beyond doubt to the atrocities. It placed the human rights at a ____6_____ and established an irreversible precedent annulling all the superficial excuses regarding an abominable _____7_____ . Speaking about the human rights, we consider that the main treaty which does not have a specific content but which generated a ______8_______ on the international arena in this matter is the Charter of the UNO. This act has a special place in the _____9______ and it is practically impossible to conceive the history and evolution of the international law without it. The Charter provides for the ____10_______ and international security, development of friendly relations among nations and the achievement of the inter-national co-operation in solving the economic, social, cultural and humanitarian international problems, in promoting and encouraging the respect of the human rights and _____11________ for all regardless the race, sex, language, or religion.

6. Study the following groups of words that are often confused and misused. Explain their meaning and give your own examples illustrating their use.

1/ Affect, effect; 2/ allege, allude, elude; 3/ appraise, apprise;

4/ ascent, assent, consent; 5/ commit, commitment, committal;

6/ cessation, cession, session; 7/ assure, ensure, insure.

Writing

Explain ( in 100 words): What is a difference between a human rights violation and a criminal offence. (Both involve wrongdoing.)

SECTION 3:

The european court of human rights

Before you read

Discuss these questions:

1. What do you know about the European Court of Human Rights?

2. When was it organized?

3. What are the functions of the European Court of Human Rights?

Key vocabulary:

to be amended, applications, written / oral submissions, to bear the costs of interpretation, to be incompatible, impartiality, substitute members, relinquish jurisdiction, to file objections, uncertainties and contradictions, to stem, inconsistency, to attain, to become overburdened, recalcitrant states, findings.

Read and translate the following texts:

The Structure of the New Court

The European Court of Human Rights set up under the Convention as amended is composed of a number of judges equal to that of the Contracting States (currently forty-one). There is no restriction on the number of judges of the same nationality. Judges are elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for a term of six years. The term of office of one half of the judges elected at the first election will expire after three years, so as to ensure that the terms of office of one half of the judges are renewed every three year.

The official languages of the Court are English and French but the Rules of the Court provide that applications may be presented to the Court in any of the official languages of the High Contracting Parties. There are 32 such official languages at present. Of course it goes without saying that an international court could not function efficiently if it had to work in such a large number of languages. While it is open to the applicant to present his case in an official language, the Rules of the Court make it clear that if a case is communicated to the Government for observations or if a hearing is to be held in the case, English or French must be employed unless the President decides otherwise.

Accordingly, Governments are requested to submit their written observations in one of the official languages of the Court and permission must be sought from the President of the Chamber to make written or oral submissions in another language. If the Government desires to address the Court in the national language, it must bear the costs of interpretation. If the applicant cannot secure the services of a lawyer who speaks one of the official languages of the Court and permission is given by the President of the Chamber to speak the national language, the Court will bear the costs.

Judges sit on the Court in their individual capacity and do not represent any State. They cannot engage in any activity which is incompatible with their independence or impartiality or with the demands of full-time office. Their terms of office expire when they reach the age of seventy.

The Plenary Court elects its President, two Vice-Presidents and two Presidents of Section for a period of three years. Under the Rules of Court, the Court is divided into four Sections, whose composition, fixed for three years, is geographically and gender balanced and takes account of the different legal systems of the Contracting States. Each Section is presided over by the President, two of the Section Presidents are at the same time Vice-Presidents of the Court. Section Presidents are assisted and where necessary replaced by Vice-Presidents оf Section.

Committees of three judges are set up within each Section for twelve month periods. Committees are an Important feature in the new structure as they are responsible for much of the filtering formerly carried out by the Commission. Chambers of seven members are constituted within each Section on the basis of rotation, with the Section| President and the judge elected in respect of the State concerned sitting in each case. If the latter is not a member of the Section, he or she sits as an ex officio member of the Chamber. The members of the Section who are not full members of the Chamber sit as substitute members.

The Grand Chamber of seventeen judges is constituted for three years. Apart from the ex officio members - the President, Vice-Presidents and Section Presidents — the Grand Chamber is formed by rotation within two groups, which will alternate every nine months. These groups are composed with a view to geographical balance and are intended to reflect the different legal traditions.

The Chamber judgment in an admissible case will also examine the question of just satisfaction (Article 41). It is also at Chamber level that friendly settlements will normally take place although a settlement can intervene at any stage of the proceedings. Where appropriate, the Chamber may appoint a delegation of judges to carry out fact-finding and hear witnesses. The Rules of Court provide that it may appoint independent experts to assist a delegation. It is thus in Chambers that a large part of the Court's work is carried out. Within a period of three months from the date of the Chamber judgment a party may request that a case be referred to the Grand Chamber of seventeen judges. A panel of five judges shall accept the request if the case raises a serious question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention or a serious issue of general importance. Article 43 makes it clear that reference may only take place in "exceptional cases". This restriction is an essential part of the reform of the Convention procedure and embodies the compromise reached between States in the drafting of Protocol No. 11 that were in favor of a single examination by one instance and States that favored a double examination.

If interpreted strictly by the Panel of the Grand Chamber, it will mean that the Chamber judgment will be the final judgment in most of the cases raising problems of Convention law, which can be decided on the basis of existing principles.

The role of the Grand Chamber is thus to rule on cases of the utmost importance. The Convention also enables a Chamber to relinquish jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber "at any time before it has rendered its judgment" in cases which raise a serious question of interpretation "where the resolution of a question before the Chamber might have a result inconsistent with a judgment previously delivered by the Court." The parties have the right to object to a relinquishment but the Rules of the Court require the parties to file their objections within a month and to provide reasons for them. In the limited practice to date, Chambers have relinquished jurisdiction in cases here there existed a certain inconsistency between the Chambers in their approach to certain issues or where there was need to clear up uncertainties and contradictions stemming from existing case law. The role of the Grand Chamber is crucial to the success of the reform for two main reasons. First it will fall to the Grand Chamber to examine inter alia the leading cases that will be brought to Strasbourg, which raise new points of Convention law. The Grand Chamber will thus establish the most important case law of the new Court. Second it is clear that if the objectives of the reform process are to be attained — i.e. if the system is able to examine cases within a reasonable time — the Panel of the Grand Chamber will have to be extremely selective in those cases where it accepts a referral. If there are to be a large number of referrals from the Sections to the Grand Chamber it is very likely to become over- burdened with cases leading to the inevitable (and familiar) delays in deciding important cases. The Panel is thus acting as a "filter", accepting only the most "exceptional cases" for adjudication. It will thus play a key role in the effectiveness of the new arrangements. Since the Court is still in a transitional phase it is too early yet to give any indication how this shift from Chamber to Grand Chamber will be managed by the Panel.

Notes:

ex officio member of the Chamber - член палати за посадою;

with a view to - з метою;

inter alia - між іншим.