The judges at the European Court for Human Rights are swamped with work. The court has been struggling with this problem for years, but it’s now in danger of collapsing under the load.

A Dutch judge at the court, Egbert Myjer, points out that so many legal proceedings are instigated - mostly against Russia - that the court is lagging behind more and more. "At the moment a verdict has not yet been given in 120,000 cases,” Myjer says. “This number is rising by 20,000 annually, which means 20,000 more cases are being brought before the court than are settled. This will eventually wreck the court."
 

The human rights court is partly suffering from its own success. Besides citizens, illegal immigrants living in Europe can also turn to Strasbourg for help. That means some 8 million people in 47 European countries, including Russia, are eligible to file complaints with the court.
 

Last chance of appeal
When it opened in 1959, the Strasbourg court was the world's only institution where individual citizens could institute proceedings against their government. But this has resulted in many cases in which the court is not qualified to give a verdict. About 90 percent of all cases are eventually rejected.
 

Lawyers generally know which cases stand a chance of being heard. But many of them still give it a try, as Strasbourg offers the very last possibility to lodge an appeal. In addition, citizens sometimes turn straight to the court without a lawyer's mediation. This is Eespecially true in former Eastern bloc countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, where citizens' access to lawyers is still limited.
 

Poisoning
Of all legal proceedings awaiting the court's verdict, almost a quarter have been lodged against Russia – something that has lead to tensions between the court and the Russian government. Luzius Wildhaber, former court president, even claims he might have been poisoned by the Russian secret service during a working visit to Moscow. He spent some time as a critically ill patient in a hospital in Bern.
 

True or not, the fact remains that Moscow is not always pleased with the court's decisions. It is therefore no coincidence that Russia is the only member state to oppose more efficient working methods by the Strasbourg court.
 

"The solution is to commit less judges to one case. We currently set three judges to work on a case that clearly isn't eligible to be tried. These cases can easily be done by one judge instead. Legitimate complaints could be tried by three judges instead of seven. That saves time. Seventeen judges currently tackle the most important cases, but that is necessary."
 

The court has 47 judges, one for each country. To avoid any semblance of bias, it was decided that every case should be assessed by several judges.
 

Concession
The further improvement of the court’s efficiency mentioned by Myjer, known as protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, was endorsed long ago by 46 member states. Moscow is the only troublemaker left. But the Russian parliament finally seems prepared to endorse the protocol during its session in mid-January. Moscow has, however, managed to get a concession in exchange: in proceedings against Russia, a Russian judge must always be involved.
 

However, every now and then traditional democracies like the Netherlands are also called to order. For example, a few years ago the whistle was blown on the Netherlands when it wanted to deport Somalis to South Somalia.
 

Blonde lady
Myjer acknowledges that despite all the pressure, people still laugh in Strasbourg.
 

"The most absurd case I've asked to deal with came from an Italian. He appealed to the right to marry, which is included in the European Treaty of Human Rights. His complaint read as follows: considering the fact that I have still not found the right lady, could you instruct the Italian state to provide me with a lady, 29 years old, blonde, blue eyes, 1.76 metres tall and intelligent, but then again not too smart."
 

At the end of the day, it did once again cost us a sheet of A4 and three judges to dismiss this case.