Dialogue and the Implementation of the European Court of Human Rights' Judgments

Due to the intergovernmental and confidential regime set up by the European Convention on Human Rights in view of supervising the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, this field was for many years little suited to dialogue. However, a culture of dialogue has gradually emerged at the European and national levels in order to offer more transparency and legitimacy to the system; the ambitious gamble was that it would speed up and improve the compliance with the judgments of the Court. The current picture still seems to be diversified, with more bilateral and expert dialogue focused on the most serious cases at European level. Meanwhile, a strategy for a more open and constructive dialogue with a very large panel of actors seems to be promoted in some countries. Has dialogue provided a relevant laboratory model to improve good governance and compliance with the judgments of the Court? This article reviews the impact of this new practice. The author concludes that there remains large room for improvement.