Friday 14 February 2020

Liber Amicorum Paul Lemmens

Already published a few months ago, but very much worth mentioning, a special Liber Amicorum to honour the ECtHR judge in respect of Belgium, Paul Lemmens. The book, published with Intersentia and edited by Koen Lemmens, Stephan Parmentier and Louise Reyntjes, is entitled Human Rights with a Human Touch. Liber amicorum Paul Lemmens. It includes many great chapters, including a letter addressed by colleagues to his grandchildren about their grandfather. This is the editors' abstract:

'Compiling a liber amicorum is always a difficult exercise. Not only because it is not easy to choose the authors from amongst the many friends of the one being celebrated, but also because it is often difficult to align the theme and style of the contributions offered. While one friend enjoys collecting amusing, but not always very relevant, memories for the reader, the other exhausts himself/herself in an extensive legal-technical argument. While one contributes to a classical and sometimes segmented theme, the other writes a contribution on a niche topic from an already niche area.

This tribute avoids the classic pitfalls and contains contributions that are focused on human rights, in all their diversity, but with a strong emphasis on the European Convention on Human Rights. The aim of the book was to meet the highest academic standards, as Paul Lemmens has always embodied them. The well-renowned group of international authors already guarantees that quality.

But this work is also, primarily, a Festschrift, with each contribution having a clear link to Paul Lemmens. Many authors make this link explicit, while others do this more implicitly, by dealing with a theme that they know Paul takes to heart. It is obvious that the contributors express great appreciation of Paul Lemmens.

The image of Paul as known and appreciated by his friends and colleagues emerges from the collected contributions: that of an excellent and knowledgeable lawyer, but especially that of a warm and committed person. Few people may know that Judge and Professor Lemmens is a big fan of the American rock star Bruce Springsteen. The (sub) title of this book is gratefully derived from one of his albums, Human Touch. Indeed, there is no better way to describe Paul’s relationship with human rights than “Human Rights with a Human Touch”.'

Thursday 6 February 2020

Council of Europe Book on 70 Years ECHR

The Council of Europe has just published a book with the very short and plain title European Court of Human Rights to commemorate the 70 years of existence of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is a nice mix of history (including photos of all the judges that have served on the Court so far) and law, tracing a key case for each of the 47 State Parties to the Convention. This is the editors' abstract:

'To mark the 70th anniversary of the , a commemorative book about the European Court of Human Rights has been published. Containing many hitherto unpublished photos, it illustrates the history of the Court, which was set up in 1959 by the Convention to ensure that the now 47 Council of Europe member States fulfil their human rights undertakings.

A copy of the original Convention text has been reproduced for the first time and this is also the first work to contain pictures of all the Court’s judges since its creation. In addition, the case-law of such importance for Europe is presented through 47 cases, one for each member State, tracing their background and especially their impact in the various States parties to the Convention. Lastly, the book takes a look inside the Human Rights Building, itself an architectural icon, where every day the European law of human rights is being developed.'

Monday 3 February 2020

New Judge Elected in Respect of France

Last week, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly elected a new judge to the European Court of Human Rights, in respect of Franc: Mattias Guyomar. He was elected by an absolute majority of votes cast in PACE (130 out of 239). Judge Gyomar is currently President of the 10th chamber of the Litigation Section of the French Council of State, where he has worked in various function for more than 25 years.  He is also an associate professor of public law at Université Paris 2-Panthéon-Assas. No stranger to Strasbourg, he has been involved in the ECHR Superior Courts Network as a focal point of the Council of State and has also been a rapporteur on 'The relationship between national courts and the European Court of Human Rights' at the Conference of the Chiefs Justices of the Supreme Courts of the Council of Europe Member States.

His term of office of nine years will start on 22 June of this year, when the current judge in respect of France, André Potocki, reaches the age of 70.