Annual Report on the Execution of Judgments

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has published its 6th Annual Report 'Supervision of the execution of judgments and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights'. 

The Report contains an extensive overview of the Committee of Minister's supervision of the Court's judgments during the last 12 months. It outlines developments in processes designed to increase the effectiveness of the Court's judgments and includes a wide range of statistics showing where future reform is most needed. 

The Chairs of the human rights meetings (the quarterly 'DH meetings') state in the Report that: 'All in all, 2012 has been a rich year full of contrast. It has clearly been a rewarding year as progress has been achieved on many fronts and the positive dynamics between all involved strengthened. Still, statistics and actual cases before the Committee of Ministers demonstrate that considerable challenges lay ahead'.

The Report contains an overview of the most important events of 2012 (Appendix 2) and this contains a discussion of the ongoing supervision in Alekseyev v Russia. 

Alekseyev v Russia is the only case relating to sexual orientation that is mentioned in the Report, and is only 1 of 11 cases listed under the subject heading 'discrimination'. 

The high-profile status accorded to Alekseyev v Russia by the Committee of Ministers reassuringly suggests that it regards the human rights issues involved - both the continuing restriction of 'gay rights' marches across the Russian Federation, as well as the enactment of laws designed to criminalize 'homosexual propaganda' - to be of the highest importance.