In accordance with the conditions set by the Court, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (the “Special Rapporteur”) presents this submission in connection with Application No. 43572/18. Leave to intervene was granted on 15 April 2021 by the President of the Grand Chamber pursuant to Rule 44 § 3 (a) of the Rules of Court.
The submission provides an analysis of the applicable international human rights norms and standards relating to the composition and functioning of national judicial councils or equivalent independent and autonomous bodies established at the national level to guarantee the independence of individual judges and the judiciary as a whole. The Special Rapporteur’s mandate rests primarily on article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and on the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, adopted by the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (Milan, Italy, 26 August -6 September 1985) and endorsed by General Assembly resolutions 40/32 of 29 November 1985 and 40/146 of 13 December 1985.