Meeting with the Council of Europe - Speech by M. Pascal Clément, Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice (excerpts)
Strasbourg, 22 May 2006
(…) France is making a significant effort to improve her prison system, taking measures to reduce overcrowding. We began building 13,200 new prison places in 2002. Consequently, from next year we shall be able to start closing the most run-down prisons and provide prison conditions which respect human dignity.
I would also like to highlight the fact that France has already played a leading role in the adoption of the European Prison Rules which set objectives for conditions of detention. These cover, for example, prisoners’ access to medical and healthcare services and the punishment of offences committed in prison. The Council of Europe’s values are those of France, and to a large extent France already adheres to these rules.
France has every confidence in the future of the organization, which acts in complete synergy with the European Union and OSCE. Indeed, the Council of Europe must go on leading the way on all matters relating to fundamental rights, an area where it has expertise and contributes added value. When European institutions show that they complement both each other and the individual States, they help bring European citizens closer together.
This is why last year in Warsaw saw the adoption of an action plan designed to refocus the Council of Europe on everything from which it draws its strength and reputation: promotion of the rule of law, respect for human rights and democracy.
As far as disputes involving France at the European Court of Human Rights are concerned, no one ignores their importance. But even though, in 2005, France faced the fifth-highest number of applications, only a tiny proportion of these were declared admissible.
The Court can be called on to rule on extremely sensitive matters, at the very heart of the major ethical issues affecting our society. So its decisions are studied attentively and some have led to significant amendments to our legislation.
I am convinced that the efficient operation of the European Court of Human Rights is essential for the defence of fundamental rights. In particular, it is important for Protocol 14, which will lighten the Court’s workload, to come into force as soon as possible.
I can tell you that in a few days France will be depositing this Protocol’s instrument of ratification, thereby joining the many other countries which, like her, are anxious to promote the conditions for the smooth operation of a Court today a victim of its success.
Finally, I want to pay tribute to the essential work carried out by other Council of Europe bodies: I have particularly in mind the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).
I’m thinking too of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (ECEJ) which acts as a genuine think-tank providing input for public justice policies.
I shall, of course, pay the greatest attention to the publication of the next assessment survey report while recalling that we have here to be very cautious vis-à-vis the relativity of comparisons and classifications. Without methodological rigour, the exercise risks being discredited.
The Council of Europe’s missions are to alert, assess and encourage. They are modern and necessary for the promotion of human rights, a task to which we are all committed./.