Monday 17 June 2019

New ECHR Readings

Please find below a new batch of academic ECHR readings:

* Meltem Ineli-Ciger, ‘Remedies Available against Asylum Decisions and Deportation Orders in Turkey: An Assessment in View of European Law and the European Convention on Human Rights’, Nordic Journal of International Law, Vol. 88, Issue 2 (2019) pp. 216-249:

'This article examines administrative and judicial remedies against asylum decisions and deportation orders in Turkey and safeguards provided within these remedies with a view to analysing to what extent they are in line with European law and the European Convention on Human Rights (echr). The article has two main parts. The first part provides an overview of the Turkish asylum system and remedies available against asylum decisions and deportation orders in Turkey. Whereas, the second part identifies main procedural safeguards to be observed in asylum and deportation appeals by reviewing EU asylum acquis, the echr and case law of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. Building on this, the article assesses whether the Turkish law and practice incorporate these procedural safeguards and provide asylum seekers and migrants a right to effective remedy.'

And then a whole series of articles related to the European Convention and the European Court published online in the past months in the International Journal of Human Rights:

* Vibeke Blaker Strand, 'Interpreting the ECHR in its normative environment: interaction between the ECHR, the UN convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the UN convention on the rights of the child': 

'The article draws attention to how integrative interpretation – a methodology where the European Court of Human Rights integrates its normative environment into the interpretation of the European Convention of Human Rights – may offer an important path to bridging many of the challenges caused by fragmentation in the field of human rights. More specifically, the article offers insight into a selection of ECHR cases that are characterised by the existence of normative overlap between the ECHR, the CEDAW and the CRC; and by the fact that interaction between these legal sources actually takes place in the interpretation carried out by the Court. Interaction is discussed through two topics: the issue of state obligations in relation to domestic violence, and the issue of state obligations in relation to expulsion of immigrants with children. The article demonstrates that systemic integration may result in a strengthening of the protection of human rights under ECHR through what is termed ‘interpretive widening and thickening’.'

* Øyvind Stiansen,'Delayed but not derailed: legislative compliance with European Court of Human Rights judgments':

'Legislative changes can be crucial for implementing human rights. This article investigates how the need for legislative changes influences compliance with European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments. I argue that the need for legislative changes might influence compliance politics in two ways. First, ECtHR interference with the will of elected parliaments is controversial in several European states. Such controversy might increase the risk of defiance of judgments requiring legislative changes. Second, the greater number of veto players needed to pass legislative is likely to delay compliance. Using original implementation data, I show that the need for legislative changes tends to delay compliance, but does not increase the risk of long-term defiance. The ECtHR's ability to eventually prompt legislative changes is not smaller than its ability to induce other reforms. I also find that delays associated with the need for legislative changes are greater in states with greater numbers of ideologically diverse veto players, in states with a proportional electoral system, and in states without domestic judicial review.'

* Frederick Cowell, 'Understanding the causes and consequences of British exceptionalism towards the European Court of Human Rights':

'The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union has overshadowed the increasingly fraught relationship the country has with the European Court of Human Rights. In recent years this has been heavily influenced by British exceptionalism among key policy makers. British exceptionalism, this paper argues, is opposition to the European Court of Human Rights characterised by the belief that the UK’s domestic constitutional institutions are unique and superior to the European Convention on Human Rights, in part because of their historical provenance and longevity. This has led to non-compliance with Court judgments being considered or arguments for withdrawal from the Convention being justified on the basis that British traditions and institutions are superior. On the international plane this appears as a double standard on the part of the UK and contributes to the undermining of the Court’s authority. This paper looks at the core arguments of British exceptionalism, examining their historical origins within UK constitutional law and politics, before looking at how exceptionalism affects the Convention system across Europe.'

* Helen Keller & Reto Walther, 'Evasion of the international law of state responsibility? The ECtHR’s jurisprudence on positive and preventive obligations under Article 3':

'While it is evident that the ECtHR’s main task is applying the ECHR, it is debatable whether the Court has adequate regard to general international law when considering questions left open by the ECHR. We contribute to this debate from a normative perspective. We discuss the criticism that the Court unduly evades the ARSIWA by applying an expansive positive obligations doctrine. We submit that the Court’s propensity to focus on preventive obligations is justified in substance, since it is difficult to imagine how human rights could be effectively protected without such positive obligations in a world where state, third state and private actors mingle. In this sense, the Court’s jurisprudence makes valuable contributions to the adaptation of the international legal system to changing societies. Criticism should focus less on the Court’s inclination toward positive obligations than on its pertinent methodology, which is at times less than convincing.' 

* Martin Kuijer, 'The challenging relationship between the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU legal order: consequences of a delayed accession':

'The consequences of a prolonged non-accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights following Opinion 2/13 of the Court of Justice of the European Union may very well affect the longer-term effectiveness and viability of the Convention system. This contribution gives a succinct analysis of the institutional link between the Convention system and the EU legal order, and of the more recent interaction between the two systems, arguing that both were on what seemed to be a collision course until recently. The author stresses the continued need for an institutionalised arrangement between both regional courts working in the same geographic area interpreting similar human rights standards.'

* Tonje Meinich, 'EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights – challenges in the negotiations':

'In this article, I go through the main challenges we encountered in the negotiations between the EU and the member states of the Council of Europe on the EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. I particularly comment on the discussions concerning the co-respondent mechanism and the inclusion of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy.'

* Geir Ulfstein, 'Interpretation of the ECHR in light of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties'. [no abstract available]