CONFERENCE ON LEGAL PROTECTION OF INDIVIDUAL IN STRASBOURG ( Editorial: --> 0914 )

( Editorial: --> 0914 ) STRASBOURG, Nov 14 (Hina) - A conference on the reintegration of the Croatian Danube river region into Croatia's legal system, entitled "Legal Protection of the Individual", which was organised by the Council of Europe and UNTAES, continued in Strasbourg on Friday with a discussion on the implementation of the European Charter on Human Rights in the national judiciary. Leaders of the Council of Europe's Human Rights Department, Wolfgang Strasser and Frederick Sundberg, made introductory statements with special accent on the importance of a consistent implementation of the Charter, which Croatia had adopted. According to their interpretation, the European Human Rights Charter could be applied only to the decisions reached after its ratification. Also, the European Court would look at only the part of court proceedings which had taken place after the ratification of the Charter, not the proceedings before the ratification. Council of Europe's legal experts stressed that the national judiciary should, through judicial practice, apply the convention fairly and should always work on expanding human rights and principles of the Charter, not their narrowing. Verdicts of the European Human Rights Court come into effect immediately after they are rendered, they are final and binding. (hina) lm jn 141938 MET nov 97