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The Sofia Echo

European rights court facing huge backlog

Half a century after its creation, the European Court of Human Rights is facing an enormous backlog of cases, posing a major constraint to what is described as the world's most powerful human rights court.  European justice ministers are meeting in Switzerland to try to find a solution.

Justice ministers from the 47 states belonging to the European Court of Human Rights will try to resolve a number of issues.  As of January, more than 119 000 cases were pending before the court, based in Strasbourg, France.  Plaintiffs often wait for years before their cases are heard. And many applications are discarded for not meeting the court's jurisdiction.

Switzerland called the ministers' meeting in the Swiss resort of Interlaken to establish new mechanisms to reform and streamline the court. Click here for more.