On 6 and 7 November 2025, the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation (CELI) of the University of Leicester and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law are organizing a conference to mark the 75th anniversary of the ECHR and the 35th anniversary of the Venice Commission. The conference will be devoted to the role of the ECHR and the Venice Commission in facilitating and enhancing the protection of the rule of law and constitutitonal resilience.
This is a description of the conference and the call for papers:
'In 2025, we celebrate two anniversaries, the 75th anniversary of the European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the 35th anniversary of the Venice
Commission. These significant milestones will be commemorated by two events over the
course of two days, organized by the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation
(CELI, Leicester Law School) and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, on 6-7
November 2025, at the premises of the British Institute of International and Comparative
Law (BIICL), Russell Square, London.
The core theme of both events will be the role and significance of the ECHR and the
Venice Commission in facilitating and enhancing the protection of the rule of law and
constitutional resilience, particularly within the framework of multi-layered human rights
regimes.
On Day One, Thursday, 6 November 2025 (further details to be published in due course),
invited speakers will examine the contributions of the ECHR and the Venice Commission.
The conference will:
• Constructively explore the influence of the ECHR on the United Kingdom,
addressing its importance to the UK's constitutional arrangements and its
significance within the multi-layered dimensions of the UK's constitution.
• Reflect on the roles of the ECHR and the Venice Commission at the European
level, focusing on their contributions to the protection of the rule of law and the
enhancement of constitutional resilience across Europe, and/or on the
significance of multi-layered human rights protection more broadly.
• Consider the UK’s contribution to the European protection systems (past and/or
present) as a means of enhancing constitutional reslilience in Europe.
On Day Two, Friday, 7 November 2025, the conference will continue discussing these
themes in a more traditional academic format with thematic panels and research paper
presentations. While the central themes will remain consistent, this day will also provide
an opportunity to broaden the inquiry into constitutional resilience and the multi-layered
human rights protection, considering their application not only within the UK context but
also with comparative perspectives from other jurisdictions and international protection
systems.
We invite submissions of abstracts for papers that explore the theme of constitutional
resilience through a multi-layered protection of human rights for Day Two of the
conference. The particular focus of the two-day event is on building constitutional
resilience in the UK and European contexts, and the role of the ECHR and the Human
Rights Act. However, contributions may also embark on analyses of how the rule of law,
a multilayered human rights protection and human rights values fortify constitutional
resilience more broadly, in other contexts, whether within the internal arrangements of a
state or at the national/international level. Contributions could, thus, consider, for
example,
• devolved contexts in the UK;
• the post-Brexit context in Northern Ireland;
• comparative perspectives from other domestic jurisdictions and the EU;
• specific states’ engagements with the European protection systems and rule of law
standards as a contribution to constitutional resilience in Europe, including in the
context of rule of law backsliding in Europe and EU accession candidate states;
• international human rights protection regimes other than the ECHR.
Please send your abstracts of no more than 300 words to ECHR2025@gmail.com by
4 June 2025. Please include the title, author(s), and affiliations and a brief cv/bio
statement.
Early Career Researchers are particularly encouraged to attend and submit abstracts.
For the conference itself, participants will be asked to submit a 1000-word summary of
their key arguments. It is hoped that the Day Two Conference will provide the basis for a
publication (special edition of a leading academic journal, or edited collection) based on
the submissions. Participants will be encouraged to attend the Day One conference.
Limited funding for reasonable travel costs in the UK and Europe is available. Please
indicate whether you would require such funding.
Please direct any queries to Professor Katja Ziegler, Dr Ed Bates and Dr Amal Sethi at
ECHR2025@gmail.com '
