General overview of applications made to ECHR against Albania

• Author: Ravesa Nano
• Pages: 182-190

Vol. 1 No. 1

January 2017

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

182

General overview of applications made to ECHR against Albania

Ravesa Nano

Abstract

Albania has ratif‌i ed the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) on October 2, 1996

and since that time 495 applications against Albania were sent to the European Court of Human

Rights. According to the ECHR statistics for Albania, although the number of applications

has increased in a progressive way, very few applications were considered admissible for

judgments. For example for the year 2015 the ECHR dealt with 101 applications concerning

Albania, 79 of which were declared inadmissible or struck out. It delivered 7 judgments

(concerning 22 applications), which found at least one violation of the European Convention

on Human Rights. Generally, the subject – ma er of violation judgments has been mainly

about right to a fair trial (40%), length of proceedings (10%), right to an e ective remedy (20%),

protection of property (20%) and others (10%). Seen through these statistics, Albanian main

judicial problems are ‘the right of a fair trial’ and ‘length of proceedings’.

Keywords: ECHR, Albania, procedure, process.

Introduction

Albania has ratif‌i ed the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) on October

2, 1996 and since that time 495 applications against Albania were sent to the European

Court of Human Rights.1 According to the ECHR statistics for Albania, although the

number of applications has increased in a progressive way, very few applications were

considered admissible for judgments. For example for the year 2015 the ECHR dealt

with 101 applications concerning Albania, of which 79 were declared inadmissible or

struck out. It delivered 7 judgments (concerning 22 applications), which found at least

one violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Generally, the subject –

ma er of violation judgments has been mainly about right to a fair trial (40%), length

of proceedings (10%), right to an e ective remedy (20%), protection of property (20%)

and others (10%). Seen through these statistics, Albanian main judicial problems are

‘the right of a fair trial’ and ‘length of proceedings’.

The issue of fair trial and length of proceedings constitutes about 50% of ECHR

violations against Albania and almost always is a conjunction with other issues such

as length of proceedings, non-enforcement of f‌i nal court decision etc. The length of

the proceeding seems to be a recent phenomenon in the applications against Albania;

however, it is always accompanied by the issue of a fair trial. As Shaw points out

individuals who complain at ECHR cannot raise abstract issues, but must be able to

claim to be the victim of violations of one or more of the convention rights’ (Shaw, 2003,

329). In most of the cases brought to the Court against Albania the applicants claim

to be victim of violations of many rights when the main emphasizing is especially on

1 European Court of Human Rights. (2016). Albania. Retrieved from the off‌i cial website: http://www.echr.

coe.int/Documents/CP_Albania_ENG.pdf.