The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has expressed
satisfaction with the recent amendments to Belgium's Vagrancy Act,
designed to ensure the application of the Council's Human Rights
Convention; the Committee was considering the execution of a judgment
of the European Court of Human Rights which had ruled that part of the
Belgian Vagrancy Act of 1891 was in breach of the Convention.
The Committee of Ministers was acting in accordance with Article 54
(art. 54) of the Convention on Human Rights which provides that "the
judgment of the Court shall be transmitted to the Committee of
Ministers, which shall supervise its execution".
In its judgment of 18 June 1971, in the so-called Belgian "Vagrancy"
Cases, the Court held, inter alia, by nine votes to seven, that there
had been a breach in this case by Belgium of paragraph 4 of Article 5
(art. 5-4) of the European Convention on Human Rights. This paragraph
provides that anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or
detention shall be entitled to take proceedings by which the
lawfulness of his detention shall be decided speedily by a court; in
this case, the applicants, three Belgian nationals who had been
detained under the Vagrancy Act of 1891, had no remedy open to them
before a court against the decisions ordering their detention.
The Court decided that they did not enjoy the guarantees set forth in
Article 5 (4) (art. 5-4) and reserved their right, should the occasion
arise, to apply for just satisfaction on this point. Article 50
(art. 50) of the Convention empowers the Court, in case of violation,
to award in certain circumstances, "just satisfaction" to the injured
party; in fact the Court will be called upon in the near future to
consider a request for compensation made by the applicants.
The Committee of Ministers was informed by the Permanent Representative
of Belgium that a law was enacted in Belgium on 6 August 1971 amending
the Vagrancy Act of 27 November 1891 and that this new law, which came
into force on 4 September 1971, gave to persons detained for vagrancy
a right of appeal to a court of law. By a transitional provision,
this remedy was also made available to persons being detained at the
time when the new law entered into force.
The Committee of Ministers took note of the new law and expressed its
satisfaction with the legislative measures introduced by the Belgian
authorities with a view to ensuring the application of the European
Convention on Human Rights in Belgium.