In my address to the 113th Committee of Ministers session in Moldova, I stated that securing the effectiveness of the Strasbourg Court is currently the single most important responsibility and most urgent task facing the Council of Europe. The court is struggling under the weight of a backlog of 39,000 cases which is growing at the rate of 1,000 per month. It has consistently drawn the attention of member states to the heavy burden of screening a huge mass of unmeritorious and unfounded applications. This large backlog endangers the viability and future of the European Convention on Human Rights and the court as the benchmark of human rights across the European continent.