Our firm offers specialized legal representation for individuals and organizations seeking justice for human rights violations before international bodies, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg and various United Nations (UN) Treaty Bodies. As Georgia is a High Contracting Party to the European Convention on Human Rights, its citizens and residents have the right to seek redress when the state fails to protect their fundamental rights guaranteed under the Convention. This international mechanism serves as a vital safeguard when domestic legal avenues have been exhausted or proven ineffective.
The cornerstone of any successful international human rights application is the mandatory "exhaustion of domestic remedies." This is a strict admissibility criterion under Article 35 of the European Convention on Human Rights and is similarly required by UN mechanisms. Before an application can be lodged in Strasbourg, an applicant must have first raised the substance of their complaint through all available and effective legal procedures within Georgia, typically culminating in a final decision from the Supreme Court of Georgia or, in relevant cases, the Constitutional Court. Our lawyers possess the deep procedural expertise necessary to build a robust domestic case file specifically designed to preserve your right to an international appeal.
We meticulously manage the entire application process, ensuring strict adherence to procedural rules and deadlines, such as the four-month time limit to apply to the ECHR after the final domestic decision. Our services include a thorough assessment of case merits, the precise formulation of alleged violations under the Convention (such as Article 3 prohibiting torture, Article 5 on the right to liberty, Article 6 on the right to a fair trial, or Article 10 on freedom of expression), and the drafting of a compelling, evidence-based legal submission. We represent clients at all stages, from initial correspondence with the Court's Registry to hearings before the Chamber or Grand Chamber.
Beyond the ECHR, our practice extends to individual communications with UN Treaty Bodies, such as the Human Rights Committee (monitoring the ICCPR) or the Committee Against Torture (CAT). While the "Views" issued by these UN bodies are not legally binding in the same way as ECHR judgments, they carry significant moral and diplomatic weight, providing an essential avenue for justice, particularly for rights not covered by the ECHR. Legal Sandbox Georgia provides authoritative counsel to navigate these complex international systems and hold state authorities accountable to their human rights obligations.
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