On the occasion of the Human Rights Day, the conference “Effective implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights” was organised under the joint European Union and Council of Europe action “Strengthening the effective legal remedies to human rights violations in Serbia” on 10 December 2021, in Belgrade.

The conference tackled the implementation of European Convention on Human Rights at the national level where the special focus was put on the execution of judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights as one of the cornerstones of the system established by the European Convention on Human Rights and its unique feature that ensures its efficiency.

Christophe Poirel, Director of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, underlined in his introductory remarks that the functioning of the Convention system and its relevance are dependent on national judicial institutions and our continuous and meaningful dialogue. He also recalled that the Brussels Declaration called on the member states to develop and deploy sufficient resources at national level with a view to the full and effective execution of all judgments and afford appropriate means and authority to the government agents or other officials responsible for co-ordinating the execution of judgments.

Snežana Marković, President of the Consituttional Court, stated that within the procedure of the constitutional appeal, the Constitutional Court is taking care, with full responsibility, for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in line with the highest standards. Constitutional Court has established a wealthy case-law in respect to applicaton of the Constitution and national legislative in the context of the human rights protection, in line with international human rights standards, most notably European Convention on Human Rights and case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Jasmina Vasović, President of the Supreme Court of Cassation underlined that it is primarily on the Council of Europe member states to ensure application and effective implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and national courts who are primary guardians of human rights provide full, effective and direct implementation of the Convention in line with the case-law of the European Court. She stated that the Supreme Court of Cassation has a leading role in guiding the judicial practices of the lower-instance courts and added that the Supreme Court of Cassation in 2017 joined Superior Courts Network under the auspices of the European Court of Human Rights.

Branislav Stojanović, Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Justice, underlined that courts in Serbia often refer to jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, which is an evidence that legal practice is turning to the European values and standards of the European Convention on Human Rights. He added that the Republic of Serbia has successfully implemented big number of judgments which led to their closing with the final resolution of the Committee of Ministers. One of good examples is execution of the judgment Milanovic v. Serbia.

The conference brought together judges, prosecutors, representatives of the legislative and executive branches of power, independent human rights bodies, international community, Council of Europe representatives and experts who have a crucial role in implementing European human rights standards and executing judgements of the European Court of Human Rights.

The conference was organised within the action “Strengthening the effective legal remedies to human rights violations in Serbia”, a part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Council of Europe.