Call for Abstracts: Revisiting the ECHR

The Human Rights Research Group of the Leuven University's Centre for Public Law has just launched a call for abstracts for a conference entitled 'Revisiting the ECHR: A Closer Look at Calls for Change'. The impetus for the conference was the by now (in)famous letter of last May by nine governments calling for changing the ECHR. As the governments phrased it in that letter: "We want to use our democratic mandate to launch a new and open-minded conversation about the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights. We have to restore the right balance.”

The conference will take place exactly one year after the letter;s publication, on 22 May 2026. Professor Başak Çalı (Oxford University) will be the keynote speaker. 

This is the call for abstracts:

'What started as an open letter in May 2025 has culminated in an increasingly articulate call by a large group of European leaders to revisit and reform the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). These leaders have pointed to the interpretation of the Convention as an impediment to policymaking and states’ interests, particularly in (but not limited to) migration matters. But what does it mean to point at Strasbourg and its judges as a roadblock to democratic governance? And how can and may governments address this issue?

While the political plans are still taking shape, the changing playing field calls for in-depth academic engagement. With this conference, the Human Rights Research Group at KU Leuven will create a space for open and balanced debate on the possibilities for reform and their implications. 

Authors of selected abstracts will be invited to develop these into full papers for publication in either an edited volume or a special issue.

We particularly invite abstracts that touch upon the following topics:

• Dialogue between the ECtHR and national authorities

• The asserted need to reform the ECHR and its judicial machinery 

• The different possibilities and mechanisms to revisit the interpretation of the ECHR

• The role of different actors in driving change at the Court 

• (Supranational) separation of powers

• The promise and limits of evolutive interpretation

• ECHR and migration

• The role of the ECHR within international migration law

• Tensions between the ECHR and particular states

Submission guidelines: Abstracts (max. 500 words) should be submitted to both koen.lemmens at kuleuven.be and eva.sevrin at kuleuven.be by 17 January 2026. Selected participants will be notified by 29 January 2026. For any inquiries, please contact the two organisers.'