Pasa and Erkan Erol against Turkey - 51358/99 [2011] ECHR 1680 (08 August 2011)

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The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);

Having regard to the judgment transmitted by the Court to the Committee once it had become final;

Recalling that the violation of the Convention found by the Court in this case concerns the authorities’ failure to take all safety measures around a mined military zone, thereby exposing the applicant, Erkan Erol, a minor, to severe injury and risk of death (violation of Article 2) (see details in Appendix);

Having invited the government of the respondent state to inform the Committee of the measures taken in order to comply with its obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to abide by the judgment;

Having examined the information provided by the government in accordance with the Committee’s Rules for the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention;

Having satisfied itself that the respondent state paid the applicants the just satisfaction provided in the judgment (see details in Appendix),

Recalling that a finding of violations by the Court requires, over and above the payment of just satisfaction awarded by the Court in its judgments, the adoption by the respondent state, where appropriate:

- of individual measures to put an end to the violations and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum; and

DECLARES, having examined the measures taken by the respondent state (see Appendix) that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in this case and

The case concerns the authorities’ failure to take all safety measures around a mined military zone, thereby exposing the applicant, Erkan Erol, a minor, to severe injury and risk of death (violation of Article 2).

The European Court noted that the mined area had been village pasture land where villagers had regularly gone to feed their animals. Safety measures had been of particular importance and it had been the authorities’ duty to take any necessary measures to prevent innocent civilians from entering the area. In view of these considerations, the Court found it incomprehensible that a grazing area should have been mined and simply surrounded by two rows of barbed wire that were relatively far apart and clearly insufficient to prevent children crossing.

The European Court considered that because of the danger they represented, in particular for young children, the use of anti-personnel mines had been widely condemned by international opinion and had ultimately been prohibited under the Ottawa Convention, which Turkey had ratified and incorporated into domestic law in 2004. Pursuant to the Ottawa Convention, member states are under an obligation to destroy existing anti personnel mines.

The European Court awarded an overall amount in just satisfaction in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages. Consequently, no other individual measure was considered necessary by the Committee of Ministers.

Turkey is a party to the Ottawa Convention, which came into force in Turkey on 1 March 2004. Under the of the Convention, Turkey has the obligation to clear mined areas by 2014. Since 1996, a number of three-year moratoria have been put into place providing for prohibition of production, sale and transfer of anti-personnel landmines and systematic mine clearance began in 1998. The government periodically informs the United Nations about the total number of anti-personnel mines destroyed and preparations for the destruction of remaining mines according to its obligations under the Ottawa Convention. A military installation was put into place in July 2007 for further mine clearance operations. This installation has been operational since 8 November 2007. Until 16 November 2009, 1 822 886 stockpiled anti-personnel mines were separated, selected and destroyed in the installation. The remaining stockpiled anti-personnel mines were planned to be destroyed by November 2010.

On 17 June 2009, the Law on the Destruction of the Anti-Personnel Land Mines on Syrian Border entered into force. In this connection, an area of 31 893 m² in Şanlıurfa, and an area of 38 500 m² in Kilis were demined.

Meanwhile, given that mine clearance efforts under the Ottawa Convention are expected to continue until 2014, the Committee of Ministers has enquired about any additional measures taken or envisaged by the Turkish authorities to enhance safety measures. In response, the authorities indicated on 06/03/2008 that they had put in place additional measures to place clear and adequate signs around mined zones in line with international standards. Local authorities continuously issue warnings to inhabitants near such zones. Finally, an awareness project is under way in co-ordination with the Ministry of Education for training teachers, students and inhabitants of districts in order to issue warnings on risk of mines.

The judgment of the European Court was published and sent out to all the authorities concerned.

The government considers that no individual measure is required, apart from the payment of the just satisfaction, that the general measures adopted will prevent similar violations and that Turkey has thus complied with its obligations under Article 46, paragraph 1 of the Convention.

1 Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 14 September 2011 at the 1120th Meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> European Court of Human Rights >> Pasa and Erkan Erol against Turkey - 51358/99 [2011] ECHR 1680 (08 August 2011) URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2011/1680.html Cite as: [2011] ECHR 1680