THE ABUSE OF THE RIGHT TO SUBMIT A COMMUNICATION AS THE ADMISSIBILITY CRITERION OF COMPLAINTS TO THE ECHR AND THE TREATY-BODIES IN THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING SYSTEM
Joanna Rezmer
Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w ToruniuAbstract
The aim of the article is to compare, by analyzing the case law of the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) and the UN treaty bodies, the manner in which international organs
interpret and apply the ‘abuse of the right to submit a communication’ criterion while they
examine the admissibility of individual complaints. Although the criterion in question has been
provided for in the European Convention on Human Rights and in the provisions of nearly all
conventions of the UN treaty-based human rights monitoring system which establish individual
communications procedures, neither of those instruments defines clearly its scope and meaning.
According to the ECHR, the concept of the ‘abuse’ should be understood in the ordinary sense
assigned to it in general legal theory – as the harmful exercise of a right for purposes other than
those for which it is designed. In practice the ECHR and the treaty-bodies relatively rarely reject
complaints on grounds of abuse. On the other hand this criterion is applied in different categories
of cases, which are not easy to classify. The ECHR while using the ‘abuse’ clause takes into
consideration not only factors concerning the complaint as such (e.g. its frivolous or vexatious
nature, offensive language or the fact that it has been knowingly based on untrue facts), but also
the conduct of the complainant or the complainant’s representatives after the communication
to the international body has been made (e.g. breach of confidentiality in friendly-settlement proceedings). The analysis of the case-law seems to indicate that so far the UN treaty bodies have
shown greater than the ECHR restraint in the process of assessing the admissibility of individual
complaints on the basis of the ‘abuse of the right’. Such attitude may partly be explained by
the fact that they are much less overburdened by increasing caseload, thus their need to filter
communications is lower.
Keywords:
admissibility criteria of individual communications, abuse of the right to submit a communication (complaint), significant disadvantage, treaty-bodies, European Court of Human RightsReferences
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