Opening of the judicial year of the European Court of Human Rights

The judicial year of the European Court of Human Rights will open on 30 January 2009, officially marking the start of the

One hundred and fifty eminent figures from the European judicial scene will attend a seminar organised for the occasion.

The seminar will take place in the afternoon, at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (France), from 2.15 pm (local time), and will be followed at 6.15 pm by the official opening ceremony, in the course of which Mr Jean-Paul Costa, President of the Court, and Dame Rosalyn Higgins, President of the International Court of Justice, will address a 250-strong audience representing the judicial world and local and national authorities.

The President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, Mrs. Vesna Medenica, will attend the event.

The theme of the seminar is “50 years of the European Court of Human Rights viewed by its fellow international Courts”. It will be opened by Mr Jean-Paul Costa, with an introduction by Mme Françoise Tulkens, Section President and judge elected to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Belgium. Mr Patrick Robinson, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Mr Vassilios Skouris, President of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, and Mr Paolo G. Carozza, Chairman of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, will address the seminar.