Ahead of the Council of Europe conference ''Implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights, our shared responsibility'' in Brussels on March 26 and 27, the Netherlands Committee of Jurists for Human Rights, the International Commission of Jurists, Justice, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the European Human Rights Advocacy Center, the Law Society of England and Wales, the AIRE Center and the Open Society Foundations issued a joint statement on the conference’s draft declaration.

The statement welcomes a number of aspects of the draft declaration, which addresses the need for more effective implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the full, rapid execution of European Court of Human Rights judgments.

At the same time, the statement, which includes recommendations, raises concerns about several elements of the draft declaration that could undermine the independence of the court and constitute a lack of recognition of the role of civil society in the effective execution of court judgments.

Read the joint statement in full.