Ukraine signs two protocols to Human Rights Convention

The ceremony with the participation of Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Dmytro Kuleba and Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni was held in Strasbourg on Thursday, March 22, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Protocols Nos. 15 and No. 16, among other provisions, supplement the reference to the principle of subsidiarity and the doctrine of freedom of judgment to the preamble to the Convention and allow the highest courts and tribunals of the High Contracting Party to demand that the European Court of Human Rights provide advisory opinions on fundamental questions concerning the interpretation or application of the rights and freedoms as defined by the Convention or its protocols," the Council of Europe reported.

To enter into force, Protocol No. 15 should be ratified by all 47 member states of the Council of Europe. Ukraine will be the 42nd country to do so. To date, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Italy and Spain have not yet ratified the Protocol.

To enter into force, Protocol No. 16 should be ratified by ten countries, and Ukraine became 9th among those that did it.