Interim Resolution ResDH(2004)71
concerning the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
of 2 August 2001, final on 12 December 2001,
in the case of Grande Oriente d'Italia di Palazzo Giustiniani against Italy
(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 8 December 2004
at the 906th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)
The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as amended by Protocol No. 11 (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”),
Having regard to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Grande Oriente d'Italia di Palazzo Giustiniani against Italy, handed down on 2 August 2001, which became final on 12 December 2001, in which the Court found a violation of Article 11 of the Convention, on the grounds that Section 5 of Law No. 34 passed by the Marches Region in 1996 required candidates for public office in the Marches Region to declare that they were not members of the freemasons, and that this interference was unnecessary in a democratic society and moreover unjustified in view of the nature of the public posts mentioned in appendices A and B to the law;
Having regard to the Rules adopted by the Committee of Ministers concerning the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention;
Having invited the Italian Government to inform it of the measures taken pursuant to the judgment of 2 August 2001, having regard to Italy's obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to abide by it;
Recalling that the obligation for all member states to abide by the judgments of the Court includes the obligation promptly to adopt general measures effectively to prevent new violations similar to those found in the Court's judgments, as well as individual measures to put an end to the violations found and to erase their consequences as far as possible;
Noting that three years after the Court's judgment, the legal provisions at the origin of the violation of Article 11 of the Convention are still in force and that no appropriate measure has yet been presented to prevent similar violations in the future, for example by revoking the provision concerned or its applicability to the posts referred to in appendices A and B to the law, or replacing it with a more general provision not aimed specifically at freemasons but making it the duty of persons holding public office to refrain from any act incompatible with the exercise of such office;
Noting that as long as the requisite measures are not adopted the applicant association continues to be affected by the violation of Article 11 found by the Court,
Urges the competent Italian authorities to take the necessary measures to guarantee the rights enshrined in Article 11 of the Convention concerning appointment to certain posts in the Marches Region.
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