Underlying Problems and Solutions relating to the Increasing Workload of the ECtHR in view of Protocol No. 14

Since the establishment of the UN, international society became very anxious for the preservation of peace and human rights. As a result of the development of human rights law, more and more scholars insist that individuals have been recognised as the subject of international law. In particular, the European Convention on Human Rights can be said to be the most effective human rights protection mechanism since individual application under the Convention provides human rights victims with legal remedies. However, as the member states of the Council of Europe rose to 47 and the Europeans have became more accustomed to resorting to individual applications for legal remedies, the number of cases concerning individual applications has increased continuously over the years and it posed a serious threat to the effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights. With a view to solving these problems, in 2006, the Group of Wise Persons issued a final report to make proposals for guaranteeing the long-term effectiveness of the control system under the ECHR, while securing the basic philosophy underlying the ECHR. Besides, the Council of Europe adopted several treaties such as Protocol No. 14 to the ECHR of 2004, Agreement of Madrid of 2009 and Protocol No. 14bis to the ECHR of 2009. In addition to the adoption of Protocol, it would be better to create the European Lower Court of Human Rights that will examine only the admissibility of a case, in order to ensure the effectiveness of individual application under the Convention without placing restrictions on the substantial rights of individuals but to strengthen it. Another solution would be to educate human rights to the judicial and administrative authorities at the domestic level and provide national measures to enforce the decisions of the ECtHR. Moreover, the constitutionalists claim that it can decrease caseloads by improving erga omnes effects of the judgments and giving more constitutional power to the Court. Finally, many scholars agree that the European human rights protection system requires the reform of the reform and further reform, as continuously developed and improved by the additional Protocols and the jurisprudence of the ECtHR.