Abstract
The European Convention of Human Rights was adopted in 1950 by the members of the Council of Europe, in order to prevent atrocities of the Second World War to happen again and to protect human rights. States as well as individuals were entitled to lodge an application in front of the European Court of Human Rights, created in 1959, to complain about a violation by a member State of one of the rights protected by the Convention. However, some admissibility criteria are required for an application to be admissible. According to the article 34 of the Convention “The Court may receive applications from any person, non-governmental organisation or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the High Contracting Parties of the rights set forth in the Convention or the Protocols thereto".
So, one of the admissibility criteria is the « victim status » of the applicant. It permits of course to reduce the great number of unfounded applications that obstruct the Court and which is increasing since 1998, when the Court became permanent the right to individual petition is compulsory for each contracting state. But its goal is also to avoid “actio popularis”, which is a judicial action by in individual to challenge national law when he is not the victim, to obtain remedy and redress for the collective interest
