International Non - Governmental Organisations ( NGOS )
There are more than seventeen hundred of such organizations formed by non-officials. The part played by them is that of pressure groups . They supply information to governments and urge them to take the action they recommend on international issues . They supply information to international organisations and at international conferences , and urge action . While officials of states participate in taking decisions affecting the international community in a most crucial way , and the international civil servants play a minor part , the office - bearers of NGOs have only the part of supplying information and urging or recommending action and have no direct part in taking decisions .
Establishment Of European Commission On Human Rights
The Convention provided for the establishment of European Commission to act as an impartial international organ to which complaints could be made on the failure of any Member State to secure to anyone within its jurisdiction the rights and freedoms as defined in the Convention . The Commission comprises the number of Members equal to the number of parties to the Convention , and petitions from any person , non - Governmental organisations or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the High Contracting Party against which the complaint has been lodged has declared that it recognises the competence of the Commission to receive such petitions . The Commission may receive applications from any person , non - Governmental organisation or group of individual claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the States Parties of the rights set forth in the Convention . On failure to arrive at a friendly settlement the Commission as a whole was to draw up a report and state its opinion breach of the obligations by the State concerned . Under Article 31 , the Commission would forward its report to the Committee of Ministers by making necessary proposals . The High Contracting Parties undertook to regard as binding on them any decision of the Committee of Ministers in this respect taken by a majority of two - thirds of the members entitled to sit on the Committee .
European Commission Individuals also entitled to petition before the Commission
Any alleged breach of the provisions of the Convention by a High Contracting Party could only be reported by a member State , unless the Government concerned recognised the competence of the Commission to receive petitions from the individuals . Under Article 25 , six declarations of acceptance were essential before the right of individual petitions could be exercised . However , it was difficult to obtain unanimity as to the right of the individual to petition to the Commission directly . Accordingly a compromise formula as mentioned above was reached . But there was no consonance with the spirit of the Convention for , according to Robertson observed in one of the articles that " when the object of the agreement is to protect not States but individuals , the real party in interest , if breach of the agreement occurs , is the individual whose rights have been denied . It is , therefore , this individual who stands in need of a remedy , and remedy he needs is a right of appeal to a tribunal which is competent to call the offending party to account . "
The European Court Of Human Rights Established Under The Convention
The European Convention for Human Rights provided for creation of an European Court on Human Rights . This Court was to have jurisdiction in respect of those States which had expressly accepted its compulsory jurisdiction under Article 56 , the minimum number of eight declarations accepting its compulsory jurisdiction must be made before a case is brought before the Court . When the necessary declarations are made , the Court starts its functioning . The Commission also referred many cases before the Court . When a State recognises the jurisdiction of the Court , the Court assumes its jurisdiction .
The number of the Judges of the Court is equal to that of the Members of the Council of Europe . The Court has to constitute a chamber of seven Judges for consideration of a case . This chamber of Judges must include a Member judge of that State which is concerned with the action . Such Judge will be the ex - officio Judge of the chamber . The Court would deal a case only after the commission has acknowledged the failure of efforts for a friendly settlement within three months from the Commissioner's report to the Committee of Ministers . The Court has to give a final decision over the matter referred to it by a party to the Convention .
The jurisdiction of the Court would extend to all cases concerning the interpretation and application of the Convention which the parties to the Convention or the Commission refer to it : Provided that the parties have declared that they recognize as compulsory the jurisdiction of the Court and that if the case is referred to the Court by a party to the convention ; and that party must be either the State the national of which is alleged to be the victim , or the State which referred the case to the Commission , or the State against which the complaint has been lodged . Under Article 50 of the Convention , the judgement of the Court becomes final when it is read by the President at a public hearing is transmitted by him to the Committee of Ministers for the purposes of the application of the relevant provision to the Convention . If the Court finds that a decision or measure taken by a legal authority or any other authority of a High Contracting Party is completely or partially in conflict with the obligations arising from the present convention , and if the internal law of the said party allows only partial separation to be made for the consequences of the decision or measure , the decision shall , if necessary , afford just satisfaction to the injured party . Robertson concluded that " the European Convention on Human Rights is an imperfect document , but it represents a big step forward . It constitutes a great advance on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations since the latter amounted in the last analysis to nothing more than an expression of intentions , whereas the European Convention contains specific legal commitments which have been accepted by fifteen Governments .
The most important 40 innovations which it was hoped that the European Convention would contain were two , the granting to individuals whose rights are denied of right access to an international organ capable of protecting them ; and the institution a judicial body on the international plane competent to sit in Judgement on national Governments . Unfortunately , it was not politically possible at this juncture to obtain unanimous agreement on the acceptance of these two provisions . Each of them remains optional in the sense that it is not necessary . consequence of signature on the convention , but depends on an express supplementary declaration by the States concerned .
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