As announced earlier through the call for papers, the University of Nottingham's human rights centre is organising its annual student human rights conference on Friday 29 March. The theme this year is 'European Court of Human Rights: 60 Years of Success?' The full programme has now been published online (and features, amongst others, two of our Utrecht University SIM fellows, very proud of them!). Also features some great keynote speakers, including judge Eicke, Ed Bates and Nuala Mole. This is the conference abstract:
'At nearly 60 years old, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has had to respond to major political and social changes, military conflicts and financial crises. Whilst there have been many successes during the ECtHR's impressive 60 year history, critics have also pointed to a number of failures. Accordingly, the 20th Annual Student Human Rights Conference aims to critically analyse the role of the ECtHR with a view to understanding how the Court and the European Convention on Human Rights have confronted both substantive and procedural challenges.
The conference will question whether the ECtHR is still fit for purpose? What lessons have the last 60 years taught us and what more can we do to improve it? It will also address whether the rise of populism within CoE Member states has made the Court more restrained in its jurisprudence. Finally, the conference will explore whether “forgotten minorities”, such as Roma, and other vulnerable groups are adequately protected and whether the Court takes such vulnerabilities into account in its decision making.'