Wednesday 10 March 2010

Article on Continuing Violations

My colleague Yves Haeck, together with A. Van Pachtenbeke of Ghent University, have authored an article on continuing violations and the ECHR. It has been published in the most recent issue of the European Human Rights Law Review (see also two posts below on that) and is entitled 'From De Becker to Varnava: the state of continuing situations in the Strasbourg case law'. I am honoured that the authors refer to and build on my earlier article 'A Lifeline in Time: Non-Retroactivity and Continuing Violations under the ECHR' which appeared in the nordic Journal of International Law. A link to that article can be found in the menu on the right and here (accessible for subscribers to IngentaConnect or through university libraries). This is the abstract of the article by Haeck and Van Pachtenbeke:

This article provides a comprehensive study of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights concerning continuing situations. It examines the evolutions in the Court's jurisprudence from the initial case of De Becker v Belgium (1958) until the recent judgment of the Grand Chamber in Varnava v Turkey (2009). The concept and the various types (continuing situations sensu strictu, composite acts and complex acts) of continuing situations are outlined, as well as the legal consequences (competence ratione temporis, admissibility, aggravating effect). Furthermore, the criterion of “sufficient relation” is deduced from the case law.
The article can be accessed, for subscribers, through Westlaw.