THE European Court of Human Rights, the ECHR, based in Strasbourg, was established in 1959 by the now 39 strong Council of Europe in the wake of the adoption of the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950. Its function consists in observing the enforcement of the convention.

The court has seen a steady rise in the number of cases it has heard. Between 1960 and 1995, 665 cases were referred to it by the Commission on Human Rights which vets applications to the court. But last year alone saw 113 cases referred, bringing to 10,201 the number of files handled by the Strasbourg system since its inception.

The accession of the states from eastern and central Europe, most recently Russia, has increased further the pressure on the court and the member states have now agreed to streamline the procedure by merging the court and the commission into a permanent full time court. The new court will come into operation one year after member states ratify the required protocol to the convention. Twenty states have done so, but Ireland is not one of them.