The Role of the Judiciary in Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Time and venue of the Conference

September 21, 2023, Riga

National Library of Latvia

Recording of the Conference in Latvian, English and French is available on YouTube channels of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court.

Programme

Organizers

The Conference is co-organized by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia. 

Aim of the Conference

The conference aims at strengthening the dialogue between European courts and the shared values within the European legal area.

The Conference is organized within the framework of Latvia's presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Read more about Latvia's presidency of the Council of Europe here.

Reinforcing the rule of law is the main topic of the conference and, at the same time, one of the aims that Latvia has defined for the period of its presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. At the conference participants will discuss the role of national courts in execution of ECtHR’s rulings, taking into account the principle of subsidiarity. This principle means a shared responsibility of European courts for the protection of human rights. There are no outsiders or insiders within the system of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms – subsidiarity helps to ensure the right to a fair trial and to strengthen protection of human rights throughout Europe, so that everyone among more than 600 million Europeans whose rights are protected by this Convention would benefit.

Participants

Supreme Court senators, judges of the Constitutional Court, presidents of first and second instance courts, representatives of supreme and constitutional courts of the Council of Europe member states, representatives of the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe, and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

List of participants

Programme

Opening of the Conference

• Aldis LAVIŅŠ, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia
• Aigars STRUPIŠS, President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia
• Lauma PAEGĻKALNA, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia

Plenary session I

Chaired by Aldis LAVIŅŠ, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia

Keynote speech: Importance of execution of ECtHR judgments as a safeguard of the European rule of law

• Síofra O'LEARY, President of the European Court of Human Rights

Core of national constitutional identities as an obstacle to execution of the ECtHR judgments

• Ineta ZIEMELE, Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Re-joinder:

• Başak ÇALI, Professor of International Law at the Hertie School

The dialogue between the ECtHR and national judges in the implementation of the Court's judgments

• Marialena TSIRLI, Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights

Re-joinder:

• Anita KOVAĻEVSKA, Senator of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia

Plenary session II

Chaired by Aigars STRUPIŠS, President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia

      Res judicata and reopening of proceedings after ECtHR judgments

• Petr ANGYALOSSY, President of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic

Re-joinder:

• Kanstantsin DZEHTSIAROU, Professor in Human Rights Law at the University of Liverpool

Supervision of national measures of execution of judgments of ECtHR and separation of powers

• Emmanuelle BRIBOSIA, Judge of Constitutional Court of Belgium

Re-joinder

• Aldis LAVIŅŠ, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia

Breakout session I

Res judicata and reopening of proceedings after ECtHR judgments and the role of the ECtHR in the supervision of the execution of its judgments

Moderator Kanstantsin DZEHTSIAROU, Professor in Human Rights Law at the University of Liverpool

Panellists:

• Jānis PLEPS, Senator of the Supreme Court of Latvia
• Helena JADERBLOM, President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden
• Antoine BUYSE, Professor of Human Rights (Utrecht University), Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights
• Mārtiņš MITS, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights

Breakout session II

Supervision of national measures of execution of judgments of ECtHR and separation of powers; national constitutional identity as obstacle to execution Moderators Başak ÇALI, Professor of International Law at the Hertie School

Panellists:

• Artūrs KUČS, Judge of the Constitutional Court of Latvia
• Jörg POLAKIEWICZ, Director of Legal Advice and Public International Law, Legal Adviser of the Council of Europe
• Heinrich Amadeus WOLFF, Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
• Olga PAPADOPOULOU, Councilor of State, Council of State of Greece

Plenary session III

Future outlook: foreseeable challenges with regard to the execution of judgments of the ECtHR

• Geir ULFSTEIN, Professor, Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo

Concluding remarks of the Conference

• Mārtiņš MITS, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights

Closing of the Conference

• Aldis LAVIŅŠ, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia
• Aigars STRUPIŠS, President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia

MORE ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

• Execution of Judgements of the European Court of Human Rights shapes the common European identity, 21.09.2023.

• Live streaming of the conference on execution of judgements of the ECtHR, organised by the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Latvia, on 21 September from 9:30, 20.09.2023.

• International conference on execution of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights organised by the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Latvia, 14.09.2023.