A precious resource to boost work for human rights throughout Europe
A few years ago, the Norwegian government launched a project to give support to Council of Europe member countries in carrying out the work needed to implement the judgments of the Court of Human Rights. The initiative came from a realisation that many member states faced difficulties in changing their law or national practices simply because of financial or structural obstacles, and that what was needed was a structure to help with capacity building and expert support.
The result was the Human Rights Trust Fund (HRTF), set up in March 2008 within the Council of Europe Development Bank. Its remit is to provide funding for states' efforts to meet their commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights and other Council of Europe human rights standards.
Five countries joined Norway in the fund: Germany and the Netherlands from the start, Finland, Switzerland, and recently the United Kingdom on the occasion of its Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers ; providing seed money to help in building human rights throughout Europe.
More than 6 million euros have been granted so far to finance activities in this respect.
Activities
These activities aim, inter alia, at contributing to ensure that:
- effective remedies exist for everyone with an arguable complaint of violation of the Convention,
- there are domestic procedures complying with the Convention to conduct effective investigations and handle cases of serial violation of the Convention,
- effective mechanisms exist for verifying the compatibility of draft legislation and administrative practice with the Convention,
- adequate organisation, operation and infrastructure of administrative and judicial public service exist.
Through these activities, the HRTF essentially seeks to strengthen the sustainability of the Court by contributing to the full and timely execution of its judgements and alleviating therefore its important workload by reducing the number of cases brought before it.
Amongst the activities approved by the Assembly of the HRTF:
- putting in place effective norms and procedures for a better enforcement of national court decisions ;
- providing magistrates and lawyers with high-quality training in Convention law and contributing to the dissemination of the Court’s case-law and to its effective accessibility for legal professionals ;
- assisting Bar Associations, individual lawyers specialised in human rights and legal clinics in providing all necessary information to potential applicants before the European Court of Human Rights ;
- commissioning translations of key case-law of the European Court of Human Rights into relevant languages and ensuring dissemination of such case-law to legal professionals ;
- providing support to execute the European Court’s judgments in the field of freedom of expression and the media by raising awareness of judges and prosecutors on the Court’s case-law;
- supporting the newly established National Preventive Mechanisms to effectively prevent ill-treatment and torture from occurring in all types of places where human beings are or could be deprived of their liberty.
Some examples of projects
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"Removing the obstacles to the non-enforcement of domestic court judgments; ensuring an effective implementation of domestic court judgments"
A € 1 250 000 project to improve the execution of ECtHR judgments in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine by providing support to these states in putting in place effective norms and procedures for a better enforcement of national court decisions.
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"Support towards the implementation of judgments of the ECtHR concerning action of security forces in Chechnya (Russian Federation)"
A € 368 000 project to contribute to the execution of the judgments through measures to enhance effective investigation into human rights violations.
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"Support to the work of the Commissioner for Human Rights in areas affected by the South Ossetia conflict"
A € 275 000 project to establish and support a network of advisers who will closely monitor human rights developments, develop contacts with the ombudsmen and other relevant actors to improve the protection of human rights on the ground, and ensure effective follow-up to the Commissioner’s six principles on human rights and humanitarian protection.
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"Support to the work of the Commissioner for Human Rights in areas affected by the South Ossetia conflict"
A project worth € 275 000 to establish and support a network of advisers who will closely monitor human rights developments, develop contacts with the ombudsmen and other relevant actors to improve the protection of human rights on the ground, and ensure effective follow-up to the Commissioner's six principles on human rights and humanitarian protection
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"The European NPM (National Preventive Mechanisms) Project: promoting independent national non-judicial mechanisms for the prevention of torture"
A € 480 000 project to help the newly established NPMs in the Member States to effectively prevent ill-treatment and torture from occurring in all types of places where human beings are or could be deprived of their liberty, to detect and put an end to instances where such treatment is inflicted, and possibly obtain reparation for victims
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"Strengthening professional training on the ECtHR: European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (the HELP Programme)"
A € 1 113 000 project in 11 countries to strengthen the capacity of national training institutions for judges and prosecutors to fully integrate the ECtHR into initial and continuous training
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"Russian Public Monitoring Committees (PMCs) Pre Project"
A € 400 000 project in the Russian Federation to explore the feasibility of a co-operation project aimed at promoting the development of effective public monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty and strengthening the effectiveness of the Public Monitoring Committees (PMCs) in preventing torture and ill-treatment.
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"Setting up a Training Institute within the European Court of Human Rights"
A € 200 000 project concerning Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine to provide professional groups (magistrates and lawyers) with high-quality training in Convention law and to contribute to the dissemination of the Court’s case-law and to its effective accessibility for legal professionals.
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"Enhancing the capacity of lawyers to comply with the admissibility criteria in applications submitted to the European Court of Human Rights"
A € 800 000 project in Albania, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Turkey to assist Bar Associations, individual lawyers specialised in human rights and legal clinics in providing all necessary information to potential applicants before the European Court of Human Rights.
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"Russian PMC Project"
A € 400 000 project in Russian Federation to strengthen the public oversight of places of detention throughout the country with a view to reducing the instances of ill-treatment and improve the implementation of the recommendations made by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).
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"Bringing Convention standards closer to home: Translation and dissemination of key ECHR case-law in target languages"
A € 800 000 project concerning Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Turkey and Ukraine to improve the understanding and domestic implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) standards by commissioning translations of key case-law of the European Court of Human Rights into relevant languages and ensuring dissemination of such case-law to legal professionals.
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"Implementing pilot, ‘quasi-pilot’ judgments and jugdments revealing systemic and structural problems in the field of detention on remand and remedies to challenge detention conditions"
A € 800 000 project to provide support to Bulgaria, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation and Ukraine to put in place the Convention-compatible legislative and regulatory framework in the field of detention on remand and remedies to challenge detention conditions and to also promote knowledge building and experience-sharing between the beneficiary states.
"Freedom of expression and the media in Turkey / Facilitating the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights"
A € 300 000 project to enhance the implementation by Turkey of the European Convention on Human Rights in the field of freedom of expression and media through awareness-raising of the Court’s case-law amongst judges and prosecutors.
Become a donor
If you are interested in becoming a donor member of the HRTF, please contact nicola.catalano@coe.int
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"The Human Rights Trust Fund is a unique and effective instrument to support the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights within the Member States of the Council of Europe. It aims, in particular, at strengthening the sustainability of the European Court of Human Rights. Six countries contribute to the Fund: Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands and, since 2012, the UK too. We hope others will join us as there is plenty to do to maintain and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms on our continent."
Ellen Berends, Chairperson of the Governing Body of the HRTF, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the Council of Europe
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"Instruments such as the Human Rights Trust Fund are invaluable in order to help translate our human rights standards into practice. This Fund is an example of good financial practice, encouraging Member States to better participate in promoting the principles and values of the Council of Europe. Through this financial tool, the Council of Europe and the CEB can widen and enhance the impact of their action in this field and contribute to the efforts of Member States in complying with their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and other human rights instruments of the Council of Europe."
Thorbjørn Jagland, Secrétaire Général du Conseil de l'Europe
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"The participation of the CEB to the Human Rights Trust Fund is a clear sign of its strong attachment to the values promoted by the Council of Europe and particularly of its support for the European system of human rights protection. CEB's social mandate is intrisically linked to these values."
Rolf Wenzel Governor of the CEB