European Court of Human Rights

Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2009)159¹

Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

in 324 cases against Ukraine concerning the failure or serious delay in abiding by final domestic courts' decisions delivered against the state and its entities as well as the absence of an effective remedy

(See Appendix for the list of cases in the Zhovner group)

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);

Having regard to the continuous flow of judgments of the Court finding Ukraine in violation of Article 6, paragraph 1, of the Convention and of Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the Convention on account of the authorities' failure to comply with or serious delay in abiding by final domestic courts' decisions delivered in the applicants' favour;

Having regard to the fact that in a number of cases the Court has also found a violation of Article 13 of the Convention in that the applicants had no effective domestic remedy whereby they might have secured their right to an enforcement of a domestic judgment within a reasonable time as guaranteed by Article 6, paragraph 1, of the Convention;

Recalling that the Committee of Ministers has been supervising the adoption by Ukraine of general measures to prevent new similar violations of the Convention for more than five years;

Stressing that more than three hundred judgments delivered within this period highlights the existence of complex structural problems at domestic level affecting large categories of persons;

Recalling the consistent position of the Committee of Ministers, shared by the Ukrainian authorities, that the resolution of these problems requires the implementation of comprehensive and complex measures;

Noting that, notwithstanding a number of initiatives reported by the Ukrainian authorities to the Committee since the beginning of its supervision, no satisfactory results have been achieved in their implementation;

Noting further that these initiatives, which are summarized in the Committee's first Interim Resolution (CM/ResDH(2008)1 adopted on 6 March 2008), addressed only certain specific aspects of the complex problem of non-enforcement of domestic courts' decisions;

Recalling that in its first Interim Resolution the Committee therefore strongly encouraged the Ukrainian authorities to enhance their efforts in tackling the problem of non-enforcement of domestic courts' decisions by setting up an overall effective strategy, coordinated at the highest political level;

Recalling, in particular, that the Committee requested the Ukrainian authorities to take urgent measures to resolve the structural problems underlying the repetitive violations found by the Court, as well as to set up a domestic remedy against the excessive length of enforcement of domestic courts' decisions;

Noting with grave concern that no concrete or visible progress has been made in this field since the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of its first Interim Resolution;

Recalling that the dysfunction of the justice system, as a consequence of the non-enforcement of the domestic courts' decision, represents an important danger, not least for the respect of the Rule of Law, frustrates citizens' confidence in the judicial system and questions the credibility of the State;

DEPLORES that, despite the urgency of the situation and the Committee's repeated calls to that effect, the Ukrainian authorities have continuously failed to give priority to finding effective solutions to the important problem of non-enforcement of domestic courts' decisions;

REITERATES its call to the Ukrainian authorities at the highest level to adhere to their political commitment to resolving the problem of non-enforcement of domestic courts' decisions and thus complying with Ukraine's obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention, to abide by the judgments of the Court;

STRONGLY URGES the Ukrainian authorities:

• to rapidly adopt general measures, including legislative initiatives previously reported to the Committee of Ministers, to solve structural problems at the origin of these persistent violations of the Convention;

• to set up as a matter of priority a domestic remedy against excessive delays of enforcement of domestic courts' decisions which would secure adequate and sufficient redress in line with the Convention requirements;

DECIDES to resume consideration of the present issues in the context of the Court's judgments concerned at the 1078th meeting (March 2010) (DH) in the light of the information to be submitted by the Ukrainian authorities on outstanding individual and general measures.