The applicants hope that the rays of democracy and human rights that shine from the Convention will light not only their present and future, but also their past. This hope, as I noted earlier, is doomed to be frustrated. The Convention can reinforce the democracy the citizens of the ex-Communist countries already have. It cannot mend the past. Countries which are not in this category will in any case not be able to join it, and countries which join it after they become democracies will benefit in the future, but the Convention will not be able to undo their past.
Reinforcement seems to be the main theme.
These statistics do not include Lithuania, which recognized the right of individual petition on 20 June 1995. As successor of CSFR which recognized the right of petition on 18 March 1992. As successor of CSFR which recognized the right of petition on 18 March 1992. 67 Compare this situation with the initial decision not to admit Russia to full membership of the Council of Europe. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Doc.