Friday, 28 May 2021

Book Launch of Law, Democracy and the European Court of Human Rights

The recent book of Rory O'Connell (Ulster University), entitled Law, Democracy and the European Court of Human Rights (on which we reported earlier here), will be officially launched in June. The Transitional Justice Institute at which he is best is organising the launch on Friday 25 June from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM BST. The launch will include contributions from Prof Conor Gearty (LSE), Prof Ruth Rubio Marin (Sevilla) and from Prof Rory O'Connell himself. You can register for the event here.

Here is a part of the book's abstract: 

'Law, Democracy and the European Court of Human Rights examines the political rights jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. It discusses how the Court supports a liberal representative and substantive model of democracy, and outlines the potential for the Court to interpret the Convention so as to support more deliberative, participatory and inclusive democratic practices. The book commences with an overview of different theories of democracy and then discusses the origins of the Council of Europe and the Convention and presents the basic principles on the interpretation and application of the Convention. Subsequent chapters explore issues around free expression, free assembly and association, the scope of the electoral rights, the right to vote, the right to run for election and issues about electoral systems. Issues discussed include rights relating to referendums, voting rights for prisoners and non-nationals, trade union rights and freedom of information.'

Tuesday, 25 May 2021

Practical Guide to Article 6 ECHR - The Right to a Fair Trial

Päivi Hirvelä and Satu Heikkila have published a new book on what is one of the European Convention's key rights, with a case-law whose volume is hard to keep up with: Article 6 ECHR. The book, published with Intersentia, is entitled Right to a Fair Trial – A Practical Guide to the Article 6 Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights. Written by true insiders, a former judge in Strasbourg and a current member of the Court's registry. It is geared especially towards practitioners. This is the abstract:

'This book provides a comprehensive, detailed and up-to-date account of the Strasbourg case-law on the right to a fair trial. It focuses on the Court's most important fair trial cases which have been selected following the Court's Jurisconsult's opinion of their jurisprudential interest.

Every year, the European Court of Human Rights delivers a large number of judgments, adding to its already extensive case-law. This makes it difficult for people outside the Court to know which cases are the most relevant and break new ground for fair trial issues. This book seeks to respond to that need by focusing on the most important cases and aims to make the content of Article 6 accessible in order to best serve readers’ every-day practical legal needs The cases are selected following the Court’s Jurisconsult’s opinion of their jurisprudential interest. In addition, the book includes a number of other cases that raise issues of general interest, establish new principles, or develop or clarify the Court’s existing case-law. The case summaries draw the readers’ attention to the essential points, allowing them to focus on the jurisprudential significance of a particular case. A clear structure utilising detailed heading helps the reader to quickly find the relevant case-law.

Right to a Fair Trial – A Practical Guide to the Article 6 Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights is a comprehensive, easy-to-use and up-to-date reference book which provides a useful source of information for the practitioners, theorists and students in the field of human rights.'

Friday, 21 May 2021

Conference ECHR: Beyond a Treaty

On 27 May, Utrecht University is holding an online conference titled The European Convention on Human Rights: Beyond a Treaty. The conference explores the ECHR, beyond its formal treaty character, as an inspirational and aspirational source of human rights.

The conference is organised on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) in a joint collaboration with the Netherlands Network of Human Rights (NNHRR), the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice, and Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law.

Here is the full programme of the conference:

Introduction: Kushtrim Istrefi and Claire Loven (13.00 – 13.15 CET)

Panel 1: ECHR as an inspirational source of human rights (13.15 – 14.45 CET)
Chair: Rick Lawson, Leiden University

ECHR in the EU legal order
Speaker: Ineta Ziemele, Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union (former President of the Latvian Constitutional Court and ECtHR judge)

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional domestication of ECHR through the Dayton Peace Agreement
Speaker: Antoine Buyse, Utrecht University

Constitutional domestication of ECHR in Kosovo
Speaker: Kushtrim Istrefi, Utrecht University

Break (14.45 – 15.00 CET)

Panel 2: ECHR as an aspirational source of human rights? (15.00 – 16.45 CET)
Chair: Claire Loven, Utrecht University

Defining minimum standards of Convention protection by the ECtHR
Speaker: Janneke Gerards, Utrecht University

Under the bar: explaining deliberate choices to minimize the Strasbourg standards
Speaker: Catherine van de Heyning, Antwerp University

The role of the ECHR in a ‘culture of justification’: the example of Urgenda v. the Netherlands
Speaker: Ingrid Leijten, Leiden University

The application of the ECtHR jurisprudence by domestic courts in cases concerning the immunity of international organisations
Speaker: Luca Pasquet, Utrecht University

Concluding remarks: Luca Pasquet (16.45 – 17.00 CET)

The conference is free to join through this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87395734934

Wednesday, 12 May 2021

Webinar on Limits of Supranational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey's Kurdish Conflict

On 18 May, the Centre for Turkey Studies' is hosting a webinar on Limits of Supranational Justice - The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey's Kurdish Conflict, with Dr Dilek Kurban, Professor Helen Duffy and Dr Derya Bayir. 

Here is the description of the event from the organisers:

'This online meeting will discuss Dr Dilek Kurban's book Limits of Supranational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey's Kurdish Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Dr Kurban offers a contextualised analysis of the European Court of Human Rights' (ECtHR) engagement in Turkey's Kurdish conflict since the early 1990s, and her book makes a much-needed contribution to scholarships on supranational courts and legal mobilisation. Based on a socio-legal account of the efforts of Kurdish lawyers in mobilising the ECtHR on behalf of abducted, executed, tortured and displaced civilians under emergency rule, and a doctrinal legal analysis of the ECtHR's jurisprudence in these cases, this book powerfully demonstrates the Strasbourg court's failure to end gross violations in the Kurdish region. It brings together legal, political, sociological and historical narratives, and highlights the factors enabling the perpetuation of state violence and political repression against the Kurds. The effectiveness of supranational courts can best be assessed in hard cases such as Turkey, and this book demonstrates the need for a reappraisal of current academic and jurisprudential approaches to authoritarian regimes.'

For registration, click here.