Tuesday 20 July 2021

Summer Break ECHR Blog

Dear readers,  this blog is taking a Summer break after another intense blogging season on the ECHR and its Court. We wish all of you a good Summer or Winter, depending on the hemisphere,

Antoine Buyse & Kushtrim Istrefi

Thursday 15 July 2021

New Book: Rights of Families of Disappeared Persons

Gra
żyna Baranowska (Poznan Human Rights Centre) has published a book titled Rights of Families of Disappeared Persons (Intersentia). 
 
Here is the abstract of the book:
 
"This book examines how international judicial and non-judicial bodies in Europe address the needs of the families of forcibly disappeared persons. The needs in question are returning the remains of disappeared persons; the right to truth; the acceptance of responsibility by states; and the right to compensation. These have been identified as the four most commonly shared basic and fundamental needs of families in which an adult was disappeared many years previously and is now assumed to be dead, which is representative of the situation of the vast majority of families of disappeared persons in Europe.

The analysis covers the judgments and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Human Rights Advisory Panel in Kosovo, as well as the activities of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, the Special Process on Missing Persons in the Territory of former Yugoslavia, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the International Commission on Missing Persons. In so doing, the book demonstrates whether, how, and based on what principles these four needs of the families of disappeared persons can constitute a claim based on international human rights law."

Tuesday 13 July 2021

Country Factsheets on the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Recently, the Committee of Ministers' Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
launched a dedicated webpage which gives a country-by-country overview by way of factsheets on each state party to the ECHR. Each factsheet gives an overview of key issues flowing from the judgments of the Court which are currently pending before the Committee of Ministers. The factsheets link on to more detailed information on specific cases. The sheets also include thematic information, e.g. on new domestic laws and policies or other reforms made by states following ECtHR judgments, listing main achievements under closed cases as well as main cases under supervision. They show statistics on the number of 'leading' and 'repetitive cases' per state. 

As the Council of Europe specifies, 'the creation of this new webpage aims to further enhance the transparency of the ECHR judgments’ execution process and to make easier the access to relevant information by all interested parties.' Indeed a very useful resource in the growing amount of information on the stage after the Court issued its judgment in a case.

Tuesday 6 July 2021

Aliens before the European Court of Human Rights

David Moya and Georgios Milios have edited a volume titled Aliens before the European Court of Human Rights: Ensuring Minimum Standards of Human Rights Protection (Brill). The book is geared towards a
ll those interested in migration and asylum law and the case-law of the ECHR.
 
Here is a short abstract of the book:
 
'This volume conducts an in-depth analysis of the ECtHR’s case law in the area of migration and asylum, exploring the role of the Court in this area of law. Each chapter deals with the case law on one specific ECHR article that is relevant for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. In addition, the volume is enriched by two additional studies which deal with issues that are treated in a transversal manner, namely vulnerability and the margin of appreciation. The volume systematises the case law on aliens’ rights under the ECHR, offering readers the chance to familiarise themselves with or gain deeper insight into the main principles the Strasbourg court applies in its case law regarding aliens.'

Friday 2 July 2021

Summer School: ECHR in Times of Crises

From 5 to 10 September 2021, TU Dresden and Leipzig University
are organising a summer school 'Human Rights in Theory and Practice: The European Convention on Human Rights in Times of Crises'. The summer school will take place both online and in person (in Dresden)
.  
 
Themes such as emergency situations, populism, migration, and the role of economic, social and cultural rights in the context of crisis will be explored from an interdisciplinary perspective.
 
Speakers of the summer school include the Strasbourg Court Judge Anja Seibert-Fohr and 17 other established scholars and practitioners working on the Convention system.
 
The Summer School is designed for advanced students of law, political science, international relations and similar fields. Prior knowledge about the European Human Rights System may be beneficial but is not required. The language of the Summer School will be English.
 
The programme is available here and the registration link is here. For more information you can visit the website of the summer school.