MAIN FINDINGS

Part 1

A Characterisation of the Convention System

The first question which this research set out to answer was the normative question whether and, if so, for what reasons, the notion of dialogue can be of added value to the Convention system. To answer this question, some understanding and a characterisation of the Convention system were required. Chapter II characterised the Convention system in terms of its establishment, functioning, developments and reforms, with a focus on how these matters have influenced the relation and distribution of powers and responsibilities between the interlocutors which take part in the Convention dialogue. Chapter III zoomed in on those characteristics which were particularly important to giving an account of the added value of the notion of dialogue to the Convention system.

The short narrative on establishment explained how both the concept of human rights and that of democracy played an important role in the minds of the drafters of the Convention. The current object and purpose of the Convention system, which are key to understanding its functioning, can still be summarised as maintaining and further realising individual human rights and protecting democracy.

To understand the system's functioning, one must also become acquainted with the institutions, or interlocutors as they were called in this study, which are the system's driving forces. The states parties are to play the most important role, for they should secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in the Convention. This responsibility carries with it the obligation to execute any adverse judgment adopted by the Court to which a state is a party, which involves ending and remedying the violation found and preventing future violations. Not all states discharge their important role adequately; they sometimes act in bad faith or fail to solve widespread problems, which imply that they fail to fully execute the Court's judgments and to implement the Convention.

The guardian of the Convention is the Court and its task is to ensure that the states observe their engagements undertaken under the Convention. Over the course of its existence, the Court has stepped up and assumed new responsibilities, something which can cause tension between itself and the states.