Conference on ECHR and Venice Commission: Guarding Human Rights and the Rule of Law, and Facilitating Constitutional Resilience

On 6 and 7 November 2025, Katja Ziegler, Ed Bates, Amal Sethi (CELI - Centre for European Law and Internationalisation) and Julinda Beqiraj (Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law) are organising an event on the ‘ECHR and Venice Commission: Guarding Human Rights and the Rule of Law, and Facilitating Constitutional Resilience’. The event will take place at the BIICL (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) in London.

 

The event, organised by CELI in cooperation with the Bingham Centre, will coincide with two anniversaries: the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the 35th anniversary of the Venice Commission.

 

Day One (6 November) will feature invited speakers, including current and former judges of the European Court of Human Rights, reflecting on the impact of the ECHR and the Venice Commission in the UK and Europe, including on the UK's constitutional framework and the UK's role in European human rights protection, and how a multi-layered protection of human rights may contribute to overall constitutional resilience. (Registration here – draft programme, here).

Day Two (7 November) will adopt an academic format featuring thematic panels and research presentations, expanding the discussion through comparative perspectives on constitutional resilience and multi-layered rights protection. Abstract submissions  that engage with the theme of constitutional resilience in the context of multi-layered human rights protection were collected for this day of the conference through a call for papers. (Registration here – draft programme, here).

 

Registration is now open to attend either or both days.

Workshop: Writing and Publishing in the Law of the ECHR and other International Human Rights Systems

On 15 and 16 December 2025, the Academy for European Human Rights Protection of the University of Cologne is organising a workshop for early-career researchers. The workshop is entitled 'Writing and Publishing in the Law of the ECHR and other International Human Rights Systems'. The workshop will be hybrid (in person at the Academy for European Human Rights Protection in Cologne, as well as online). The deadline for submissions is 12 October 2025. Here is more information on the call for submissions and the workshop itself:

Background and Scope of the Workshop

In recent years, the pressures on human rights law and its associated institutions have intensified. Challenges posed by democratic and rule of law backsliding, digitalisation, migration and planetary environmental crises have forced international human rights courts and tribunals to develop strategic responses. Meanwhile, states have pushed for the reform of human rights treaties and, in certain instances, have withdrawn from these treaties altogether. Recognising the significance of this discourse, Early Career Human Rights Researchers have found themselves at the forefront of research on these phenomena, centring their research projects on human rights courts and tribunals, either in isolation or comparatively, and their respective responses. The Academy for European Human Rights Protection (University of Cologne) is excited to announce an upcoming workshop focussed on the process of writing and publishing in the context of the ECHR and other international human rights treaties, in particular the institutional responses to these challenges, with the overarching aim of enabling these Researchers to increase the visibility and impact of their work in their respective fields. 

The workshop has multiple objectives. It aims to address a range of questions central to effective publishing strategies in the law of the ECHR and other international human rights systems. The theoretical component of the workshop will particularly focus on the following challenges: How can researchers engage with comparative research and perspectives from other international human rights systems? How to write articles in the field of the ECHR from a critical perspective? Which types of articles on the ECHR and other human rights systems attract the interest of journal and book series editors? What do judges or members of international human rights bodies read?

The workshop has multiple objectives. It aims to address a range of questions central to effective publishing strategies in the law of the ECHR and other international human rights systems. It also aims to give Early Career Researchers an opportunity to discuss works in progress in small groups: while such work should be related to the broader theme of human rights, we very much welcome contributions from various disciplines and/or incorporating comparative or critical perspectives. Lastly, and following the inaugural workshop in February 2024, this year's workshop seeks to expand the network of scholars working in that field, thereby establishing a regular forum for exchange of ideas and best publishing practices.

Call for Submissions

We invite submissions from Early Career Researchers (broadly understood), working on human rights law and fundamental rights as well as other disciplines, including philosophy, history, political science, sociology and anthropology, addressing the various challenges international human rights systems are facing. Submissions may have a focus on a particular human rights system and/or adopt a comparative approach in their research. Alongside academic merit, the Selection Committee will also consider factors such as diversity and geographical representation in the selection process. 

Submissions should be in a single Word or PDF document and include the following: 

1. CV (including a list of publications, if applicable; max. 2 pages);
2. Letter of motivation (max. 300 words) explaining how the workshop could help improve their approach to writing and publishing and advance their scholarly career;
3. Indication of whether the applicant is planning to attend in person or online;
4. Optionally, an abstract of the work to be discussed in small groups (e. g., book project proposal, article, funding application, policy brief) on which the applicants wish to receive feedback (max. 500 words). This is not a compulsory element of the application process, and its omission will not in any way impact the selection. We very much welcome applications also from participants who do not wish to take part in the group sessions.

Applications should be submitted via email to publishing-humanrights@uni-koeln.de. The deadline is 12 October 2025 (Attention - deadline extended!).

Successful applicants will receive a written confirmation of acceptance by the end of October 2025. There is no fee to participate in the workshop, but participants will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation arrangements (should they participate in person in Cologne). To facilitate such costs, a late afternoon start (2 pm) on Monday, 15 December 2025, and a late afternoon finish (2 pm) on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, is envisaged.

Any further questions about the workshop should be directed to publishing-humanrights@uni-koeln.de.  

Organisers: Angelika Nußberger; Nikos Vogiatzis; Reza Khabook; Joseph Finnerty; Vandita Khanna; Matthias Hermes.

Workshop on Positive Obligations and Discrimination in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights

The University of Lund and Utrecht University are organising a workshop entitled Positive Obligations and Discrimination in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights. It will take place in Lund on 4 and 5 June 2026.

 

Aim and scientific relevance of the workshop

This workshop aims to explore the potential and limitations of the European Court of Human Rights’ case law on positive obligations and the prohibition of discrimination.

Questions/topics to be addressed include, but are not limited to:

1. Which (types of) positive obligations have been recognised by the ECtHR in relation to the prohibition of discrimination (Articles 14 and 1 Twelfth Protocol ECHR)? (How) does the scope and/or nature of these obligations differ depending on the type of discrimination at stake (eg hate speech/hate crime, direct/indirect discrimination, by public or private actors), the context in which discrimination occurs (employment, education, policing, immigration, etc..) and/or across discrimination grounds and can these differences be justified?

2. How do the elements of knowledge, causation and reasonableness play a role in ECtHR case law on discrimination? How does the formulation of a discrimination argument, as opposed to arguments about breach of substantive provisions, affect the role of these three elements (knowledge, causation and reasonableness)? More specifically when it comes to causation, how does the Court perceive and argue in favour of any links between state omissions and harm?

3. Which remedies are prescribed (or should be/could be prescribed) by the ECtHR in order to address breaches of positive obligations in the field of discrimination law? Which forms of State action are required (or should be/could be required) to execute the Court’s judgments? What role does causation (understood as a link between remedial actions and prevention of harm) have in the context of remedies? Is this role the same as in the determination of breach?

4. How does the conceptualisation of positive obligations to prevent or remedy discrimination, as established by the ECtHR, relate to and serve different theories of justice (distributive v. corrective or individual v. constitutional)?  How does the conceptualisation of positive obligations to prevent or remedy discrimination, as established by the ECtHR, relate to notions of structural (or systemic or institutional) discrimination?

5. What are the potential and limitations of ECtHR case law on positive obligations to address specific forms of (structural) discrimination, such as segregation in education, domestic and gender-based violence, hate speech/hate crime, racial profiling or discrimination resulting from the use of technology or automated decision-making?

6. How do positive obligations to prevent or remedy discrimination, as established by the ECtHR,  relate to concepts from equality/discrimination law including positive action, equality duties or reasonable accommodation?

7. Can the conceptualisation of positive obligations to prevent or remedy discrimination, as developed by the ECtHR, be compared with concepts and reasoning emerging from other jurisdictions? Can comparative parallels be drawn from the case law of other regional human rights courts (the IACtHR or AfCHPR) or from national doctrines and developments, to inform and evaluate the case law of the ECtHR? Can such comparative frameworks offer explanatory force for better understanding the ECtHR’s discrimination reasoning?  

Instructions

Interested scholars should submit the following:

(1) proposal of at least 1 500 words outlining the planned article for the workshop;

(2) one page bio containing information how the scholar’s background is relevant to the workshop.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be submitted to both Conveners by email (vladislava.stoyanova@jur.lu.se ; k.m.devries@uu.nl) by 8 November 2025.  

Selected participants will be notified by 18 November 2025.

Draft papers will be due by 12 April 2026. Published articles and those in the process of publication are not eligible.  

Funding will be available for travel and accommodation.

Organisers

Hosted by Lund University as part of the project The Borders Within: the Multifaceted Legal Landscape of Migrant Integration in Europe - Lund University & Utrecht University | Research platform Equality Legal Studies (EQUALS)

Convened by Dr. Vladislava Stoyanova (Associate Professor in Public International Law) & Prof. dr. Karin de Vries (Professor of fundamental rights law). For inquiries, please contact Vladislava Stoyanova (vladislava.stoyanova@jur.lu.se ) and Karin de Vries ( k.m.devries@uu.nl).

Output

The organisers envisage publication of the papers presented during the workshop in a special issue with the German Law Journal. 

 

New Session of the MOOC on ECHR Starts Again on 9 September 2025

On 9 September 2025 Utrecht University's free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the ECHR will start again! To enroll, please go to the Coursera platform. 

The MOOC entitled 'Human Rights for Open Societies - An introduction into the ECHR' is taught by my Utrecht University colleagues professor Antoine Buyse and professor Janneke Gerards. This is the description of our six-week course:

'Human rights are under pressure in many places across the globe. Peaceful protests are violently quashed. Voting is tampered with. And minorities are often excluded from decision-making. All of this threatens the ideal of an open society in which each of us can be free and participate equally. A solid protection of human rights is needed for an open society to exist and to flourish. But it is often an uphill battle to work towards that ideal. Equip yourself and learn more about what human rights are and how they work. 

In this course, we will introduce you to one of the world’s most intricate human rights systems: the European Convention on Human Rights. You will see when and how people can turn to the European Court of Human Rights to complain about human rights violations. You will learn how the Court tries to solve many of the difficult human rights dilemmas of today. We will look, amongst other things, at the freedom of expression and demonstration, the right to vote, and the prohibition of discrimination. And we will address the rights of migrants, refugees, and other vulnerable groups. And, of course, we will see whether it is possible to restrict rights and if so under what conditions. You will even encounter watchdogs and ice cream in this course. We invite you to follow us on a journey of discovery into the European Convention!'

Please watch this short introduction video to get an impression: