The first female secretary general of the European Court of Human Rights is a Greek woman
She is the first woman to assume the role of Secretary-General of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and is Greek. Marialena Tsirli, a graduate of the Hellenic-French School of Ursuline and the Law School of Athens, continued her postgraduate and doctoral studies in Strasbourg and began her career as a lawyer at the Secretariat of the European Commission of Human Rights in 1994. and then continued in several executive positions. Her rich academic and professional career led her to the unanimous election by the Plenary of the forty-seven judges of the ECtHR.
“The role of the Secretariat is ancillary. Our mission is to assist judges in the performance of their duties, preparing case files and providing any legal, administrative and technical assistance. My goal is to perform our duties in the best and most efficient way, utilizing the potential and skills of each staff member and ensuring a healthy and enjoyable work environment, where everyone will be able to evolve and progress. I am fortunate to lead an extremely talented, enthusiastic and dedicated team. “We know that the Court is called upon to face significant challenges and it is our common ambition to contribute to its success,” Ms. Tsirli said in an interview with APE-MPE after her election.
With the promotion of Mrs. Tsirli to the position of General Secretary, another glass roof is broken, that is, a woman occupies a position that until now was “invincible”. However, she does not feel that her gender was a deterrent to her career. “I would be unfair and excessive if I said that I was discriminated against in my life because of my gender. I have the good fortune to work from a very young age in a multicultural environment with the basic mission of protecting human dignity, it would be a bit strange if female employees were treated sexistly! On the other hand, of course, I was always aware that I was a woman who “looks small”. So maybe subconsciously I always made more efforts to be taken seriously and not treated like a “little girl”. I feel very honored that by breaking this glass ceiling with my election, I also contribute to the promotion of the idea that such an office is no longer exclusively a male privilege. I must say, however, that I did not claim this position by proposing my gender, but my personality and my job. I think that this is the right way to claim equal opportunities and the best way to a substantial equality “, Ms. Tsirli notes emphatically.
Ms. Tsirli’s term will be five years, and she will take up her new duties at the General Secretariat on December 1, 2020. In essence, the ECtHR safeguards the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by the states. “The ECHR, signed in Rome on 4 November 1950 and entered into force on 3 September 1953, is the leading international text on the protection of human rights. This year we celebrate its 70th anniversary. The Convention enshrines certain rights and freedoms to be respected by the Contracting States of the Council of Europe, such as the right to life, personal liberty, family and private life, freedom of conscience and religion, expression, and the right to a fair trial. litigation, the right to property, etc. During its implementation it has been enriched with new protected rights which have been incorporated in the accompanying Protocols. “The ECHR crystallizes the fundamental values that make up the European legal order with the main axis being the respect of human value”, says Ms. Tsirli in APE-MPE.
However, even 70 years after the signing of the Convention, the work of the Court remains extremely important and timely. As Ms. Tsirli explains, “the point that turns the ECHR into an effective weapon for the protection of human rights is its provision for the functioning of a body that oversees the implementation of its requirements by the Contracting States, namely the European Court of Human Rights. human’s. The ECtHR is made up of a number of judges equal to that of the member states of the Council of Europe, ie currently 47. Judges are independent because they are elected in the name of a Contracting State, but participate in the Court in their individual capacity and not as of that State “.
As he explains: “The Court has jurisdiction to accept appeals, both from States Parties to the Convention (transnational appeals) and from individuals (individual appeals), concerning violations of the protected rights by a State party. In particular, the individual appeal has emerged as a top measure of protection of the individual from illegal state interventions. Although it was published 70 years ago, the Convention is not a text that has been frozen over time. Thanks to its interpretation and application by the Court, the Convention is a living text that evolves over time and monitors changing perceptions of the conceptual content of rights. For example, Article 8 of the ECHR, which enshrines, among other things, the right to “respect correspondence”, has been interpreted extensively to protect telephone conversations, Internet browsing, e-mails and so on.
Ms. Tsirli also tells APE-MPE that “the Court has been extended to areas that are not directly covered by the Convention, such as the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers, social rights, the environment, etc. This ensures the most effective possible protection of human rights in an ever-changing world.
The implementation of the Convention by the Court also contributes to the creation of a single area of protected rights with common features. In other words, the protection of rights is gradually being harmonized at pan-European level. In summary, we can say that the main guideline for the interpretation of the Convention is to safeguard and promote the ideals and values of a democratic society and that is the main goal of the protection mechanism: European integration and respect for democracy and the rule of law. ” . (source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ)