Representatives from the Council of Europe will be attending a conference in Brighton on 18-20 April to discuss the future of the ECHR.  The UK government currently chairs the Council, and is promoting an agenda for reform of the ECHR.  The UK and others are concerned at the substantial backlog of cases at the ECHR.  Reform proposals include permitting more cases to be dealt with by national courts and allowing national governments greater flexibility in applying ECHR judgments.  However, reform will require agreement from all 47 member states, and human rights groups such as Liberty have cautioned against reforms that might weaken human rights protection overall.