Conclusion

Summary

The implications of verticalisation have been examined here in detail so as to establish the extent to which verticalised cases pose challenges to the Convention system. The previous two chapters focused on possible problems that may arise during the Court's proceedings with respect to verticalised cases, and possible problems that may arise after these proceedings, with attention being paid to implications of the Court's current approach to verticalised cases for private actors, for Convention States and for the Court itself. This conclusion summarises these findings, showing that verticalised cases do indeed have implications for all actors involved and therefore pose challenges to the Convention system.

Starting with possible problems manifesting themselves during the Court's proceedings, it is important, first, to point out that the implications for private actors, Convention States and the Court itself, all relate to the fact that, in verticalised cases, one of the original parties in the conflict at the domestic level is not involved in the Court's proceedings and thus disappears from the conflict. For private actors, this results in a situation in which the disappeared party is not able to defend or explain his acts, interests or rights unless he intervenes as a third party in the Court proceedings. This poses challenges to the Convention system because, with the exception of cases related to one's surroundings, these acts, interests or rights may be part of the Court's examination in a verticalised case. For example, the Court may scrutinise the acts of the disappeared party or explicitly consider that party's interests, without having any information provided by the disappeared party. This also implies that the Court may be confronted with a situation in which it has to examine a verticalised case without having a full and balanced account of the facts of the case and all the rights and interests at stake. This is not only problematic for private actors, but also for the Court itself. Furthermore, it may result in a situation in which Convention States are asked to defend the rights and interests of the disappeared party, while they may be unwilling to do so or incapable of such.

Second, it was shown that the fact that the disappeared party is not involved in the Court's proceedings not only gives rise to problems during the proceedings, but also to problems afterwards. This is because a Court judgment in a verticalised case may strongly impact on the legal situation at the domestic level.