European Court of Human Rights elects new President

The European Court of Human Rights has today elected Robert Spano (Iceland) as its new President. He will take office on 18 May 2020. Report infroms, Robert Spano succeeded Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos (Greece) in this post.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a regional human rights judicial body based in Strasbourg, France, created under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The Court began operating in 1959 and has delivered more than 10,000 judgments regarding alleged violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In 1998, the European human rights system was reformed to eliminate the European Commission of Human Rights, which previously decided the admissibility of complaints, oversaw friendly settlements, and referred some cases to the Court – like the current Inter-American System. Now, individual victims may submit their complaints directly to the European Court of Human Rights.