Reading check exercises

1. Consult a dictionary and practice the pronunciation of the following words and word-combinations. Pay attention to the stress.

Amended, applications, submissions, to bear the costs of interpretation, relinquish jurisdiction to be incompatible, impartiality, substitute members, to file objections, uncertainties and contradictions, inconsistency, to attain, overburdened, inter alia, ex officio, with a view to, objectives, reform process, referral, relinquishment.

2. Answer the following questions.

1. What are the number of judges in the European Court of Human Rights? 2. What term are judges elected? 3. What are official languages of the Court? How the problem of other languages is decided? 4. What languages are the written observations submitted? 5. What are the Rules of the Plenary Court? 6. What is the function of Committees? 7. What principles are Chambers constituted? 8. What principle is the Grand Chamber constituted? 9. What are the functions of the Grand Chamber? 10.Why is the role of the Grand Chamber crucial to the success of the new Court’s reform?

3. Complete the sentences choosing the phrase that best fits the sentences.

1/ The Chamber may appoint a delegation of judges ___________________

a) to attain objectives of the reform process;

b) to carry out fact-finding and hear witnesses;

c/ to submit written observations.

2/. a party may request that a case be referred to the

Grand Chamber of seventeen judges.

a) If there are to be a large number of referrals from the Sections to the Grand Chamber;

b) Within a period of three months from the date of the Chamber judgment;

c) Since the Court is still in a transitional phase.

3/. The role of the Grand Chamber is crucial to the success of the reform for two main reasons, one of them being that __________________

a) the Grand Chamber is very likely to be overburdened with cases;

b) the system will be able examine cases within a reasonable time;

c) it will establish the most important new case law of the new Court.

4. Put 10 questions in the form of a plan to the given text. Retell the text according to your plan.

Vocabulary and grammar work

1. Supply the prepositions in the following text and translate it into Ukrainian.

Implementation Mechanisms

1. The transformation ....... the international relations......human rights has been particularly striking..... the normative level. 2. For example, the International Human Rights Covenants have been ratified ...... more than three-fourths ........ the countries ........ the world. 3. Although international bodies still play a secondary role .......... implementing these norms, states are increasingly accountable ........ the international community ........ their human rights practices. 4. The UN's International Covenant ........ Civil and Political Rights established a supervisory committee ........ independent experts — the Human Rights Committee — the principal function ....... which is to review the periodic reports submitted ......... states. 5. Similar committees have been created ......... international human rights treaties ........ racial discrimination, women's rights, torture, and the rights ......... the child.

2. This is the continuation of the ‘Implementation Mechanisms’, translate Ukrainian word-combinations into English.

6. Although questions from the committee ( під час розгляду заяв) are often well informed and probing, (представник країни-заявника) need not answer any question, let alone provide a satisfactory answer. 7. Many reports contain little more than (витяги із законів та конституцій), or obviously evasive claims of compliance. 8. But (не зважаючи на якість заяви) once it has been reviewed, the monitoring process typically ends until the next report is due. 9. Reporting schemes obviously cannot force ( країни, що не підпорядковуються загальним вимогам ) to alter their practices. 10. They can, however, provide (додаткові стимули) for states seeking to improve or safeguard their human rights record. 11. Preparing a report ( вимагає національного перегляду закону та практики ), which may uncover areas where improvement may be needed or possible. 12. It also provides a concrete periodic reminder to officials (щодо їх міжнародних правових зобов’язань.)

3. This is the end of the ‘Implementation Mechanisms’. Translate into Ukrainian word-combinations printed in bold; make your own sentences with them.

Human rights reports, because they originate from the reporting government, may provide the least adversarial of all international monitoring mechanisms. Reporting systems also have the virtue of allowing human rights issues to be addressed before problems become severe. But government control of the mechanism makes this type of monitoring most subject to evasion and abuse.

The Human Rights Committee may also consider "communications" (complaints) from individuals in the states party to the (First) Optional Protocol to the Covenant. Although the findings of the Human Rights Committee are not enforceable, several states have acted on them. For example, Canada revised legislation concerning the rights of Indians living off their tribal lands, Mauritius altered legislation concerning women's rights, and the Netherlands changed discriminatory social security legislation. The expert committees on racial discrimination and torture have similar powers.

An even stronger individual complaint mechanism exists within the Council of Europe. The decisions of the European Commission on Human Rights, although not technically binding, are usually accepted by states. And the European Court of Human Rights has made legally binding decisions in over 150 cases dealing with a variety of issues, including such sensitive questions as public emergencies.