A/HRC/11/3 page 11 C. Relationship with national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations 38. NGOs may intervene in cases before the European Court of Human Rights as a third party after seeking leave of the President of the Court. In the Inter-American Court, NGOs generally (or often) may represent the victims of human rights violations. 39. Since September 2008, the European Group of NHRIs, currently chaired by the Irish Human Rights Commission, has developed an internal procedure for the identification of cases before the European Court that would be suitable for intervention. In such cases, the Irish Human Rights Commission seeks leave of the Court to make a third party intervention. D. Caseload, the use of inter-State complaints and obstacles to access 40. The European Court of Human Rights has a current caseload of approximately 100,000, which poses a significant challenge to the efficiency of the Court. It was observed that 55 per cent of all cases relate to only 4 of the 47 member States: Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Romania. Although the Court may receive inter-State complaints, these are very rare. Individuals living in the member States are increasingly aware of the existence of the Court and have an expectation that their cases will be heard by it. Around 90 per cent of submitted complaints will not proceed to a hearing due to their inadmissibility. The European Court is considering how to address its caseload through the use of pilot cases. However, it was observed that the usefulness of pilot cases is limited to the extent that they cover the multiple issues stemming from the circumstances of the case. 41. While facilities such as inter-State complaints and pilot cases were considered useful if addressing systematic human rights violations, these measures should not preclude individual victims of human rights violations from being awarded individual reparations, including acknowledgments of the violation suffered and financial or other compensation. The right of individual victims to participate in court proceedings should also be protected. 42. Although the European Court has only two official languages, English and French, correspondence is received in around 35 languages. Where the case is an urgent matter it will be heard regardless of the language of the submitted complaint. Since there is no legal obligation on member States to translate the decisions of the Court into their national language(s), not all States do so, with the result that the Court jurisprudence may not be well known by the judiciary and legal community of some member States. 43. The lack of financial assistance for complainants is a concern in the Inter-American Court, where there is a discussion on the possible establishment of a legal aid fund. Legal aid is available in the European Court of Human Rights but not from the outset of the case. The Inter-American Court faces challenges in recruiting enough staff of high calibre. 44. In regions where there is significant linguistic or cultural disparity between certain geographic areas, it was suggested that the establishment of subregional commissions or courts might be more effective. There are multiple regional groupings in Africa and States may be party to more than one. Harmony of human rights standards and State jurisprudence at the subregional level is then particularly valuable, in order to streamline processes and prevent recourse to inefficient tribunal-shopping by complainants, both individual and State.