Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Book Launch: Law of the European Convention on Human Rights (5th ed)
Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Lecture on Media Pluralism under the ECHR
Friday, 26 May 2023
15 Years ECHR Blog!
Wednesday, 24 May 2023
New Book on Persuasion and Legal Reasoning in ECtHR Rulings
Tuesday, 23 May 2023
Call for Authors for Book Project ''Intersectional Rewrites: ECtHR Judgments Reimagined''
Monday, 22 May 2023
New Report on Freedom of Artistic Expression in Europe
'“With democracy under great pressure, the key role of arts and culture as powerful means for maintaining constructive dialogue in democratic, diverse and open societies becomes ever more evident. The right to freedom of artistic expression is a key to this and ensures the pluralism and vitality of the democratic process.” - Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić)
This report gives a comprehensive overview of the challenges that European artists and cultural workers face in the practice of their right to freedom of artistic expression. These range from laws that curtail creative freedom, attacks from nongovernmental groups and online threats to the “under-theradar” pressures that contribute to self-censorship.
It reflects the work carried out by the Council of Europe, other international intergovernmental organisations promoting freedom of expression and human rights, and non-governmental, civil society and cultural organisations concerned with artists’ and cultural rights, as well as the experiences and perspectives of artists. It concludes with recommendations on what can be done to protect artistic freedom, by international institutions such as the Council of Europe and by the cultural sector and artists themselves.'
Wednesday, 17 May 2023
The Reykjavik Summit and Declaration
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
New Thematic Factsheet on Execution of ECHR Judgments Concerning Life Imprisonment
''The European Court has noted that, although the European Convention on Human Rights does not prohibit the imposition of a life sentence on persons convicted of especially serious crimes, in order for the sentence to be compatible with Article 3 of the Convention, it must be reducible de jure and de facto. This means that there must be both a prospect of release for the prisoner and a possibility of review. The basis of such review must extend to assessing whether there are legitimate penological grounds for the continuing incarceration of the prisoner. In this regard, the importance of assessing the progress made by prisoners towards rehabilitation is underlined, since it is here that the emphasis of European penal policy now lies, as reflected in the practice of the contracting States.
Under the Court’s case-law, the criteria and conditions laid down in domestic law that pertain to the review must have a sufficient degree of clarity and certainty. Prisoners who receive a full life sentence are entitled to know from the outset what they must do in order to be considered for release and under what conditions. The Court has noted clear support in the relevant comparative and international materials for an initial review no later than twenty-five years after the imposition of sentence, with periodic reviews thereafter.
The present Thematic Factsheet provides examples of general and individual measures reported by States in the context of the execution of the European Court’s judgments, focusing on the following specific issues relating to life sentences: review mechanisms; conditions of detention; risk of irreducible life sentences in cases of extradition; the right to respect for family life and correspondence; and legal remedies to challenge length of criminal proceedings and lawfulness of detention.''
Monday, 15 May 2023
Event: 'The Concept of Europe: Progress, Colonial Continuities, and the ECHR'
Here is a description of the event:
'Debates on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) are awash with references to Europe, from early invocations of the ‘concept of Europe’ by Pierre-Henri Teitgen, via the idea of the ECHR as a constitutional instrument of the ‘European’ public order, to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as the ‘conscience of Europe’. Yet these references to Europe have gone largely unanalysed in academic commentary. In this presentation, I will argue that they build on the time-space of European colonialism, positing Europe as a progressive space that is hierarchically superior to non-European territories, ostensibly lagging behind Europe in civilizational terms.
I trace the ‘concept of Europe’ from early debates on the need for a specifically European human rights instrument to three areas that remain relevant to the present day: questions of territorial applicability, especially but not exclusively the so-called ‘colonial clause’ (Art. 56 ECHR); doctrinal figures developed by the ECtHR, particularly the ‘European consensus’ argument associated with the margin of appreciation; and, finally, academic and policy debates on the position of the ECHR in relation to regions outside of Europe, and of the ECtHR in relation to other human rights bodies. My claim will be that the sense of European ownership of human rights and the localization of progress as European shines through in each of these areas, and hence that the time-space of colonialism is constitutive of European identity as expressed within human rights law. In closing, I will consider the broader implications of this claim for the ECHR and what it might mean to move towards a different ‘concept of Europe’.'
Wednesday, 10 May 2023
New ECHR Readings
* Rosanne van Alebeek, Larissa van den Herik, and Cedric Ryngaert, ‘Prosecuting Russian Officials for the Crime of Aggression: What About Immunities?’, European Convention on Human Rights Law Review (2023), editorial.
* Matti Muukkonen, 'Finnish Student Unions as Associations in the Context of ECHR Article 11', Nordic Journal of Human Rights (2023):
‘This study examines the applicability of article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to Finnish student unions. In Finland, student unions have not traditionally been regarded as associations within the context of the convention, based on certain old inadmissibility decisions made by the European Commission of Human Rights. Based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, this study shows that, despite its wording, the Convention also protects negative freedom of association – the right not to belong. Methodologically, this is a legal dogmatic study that examines the case law, particularly in terms of the criteria by which it excludes or includes some communities from its scope. The conclusion is that, if the case of compulsory membership of student unions is debated in the Court of Human Rights, student unions cannot be considered public institutions, to which article 11 ECHR has not been applicable, but should be treated as associations. This, in turn, implies that compulsory student union membership can be criticised from the perspectives of both national law and the Convention.’
* Cornelia Klocker and Deborah Casalin, ‘Discriminatory practices in armed conflict contexts: exploring (parallel) proceedings under the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’, The International Journal of Human Rights (2023):
‘This article examines the approach of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to claims of discriminatory practices linked to armed conflict, as well as the more recent development of overlapping or parallel interstate claims before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the interstate procedure of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), based on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). It examines the potential implications of the latter trend for the application and interpretation of non-discrimination norms, and concludes that this should encourage the ECtHR once again towards application and explicit interpretation of Article 14 in armed conflict contexts. Such an approach would recognise the gravity of any discriminatory dimensions of conflict practices; ensure consistency with the ECtHR’s own evolving case law on discriminatory violence; and facilitate harmonious interpretation of non-discrimination norms, as well as the ECtHR’s autonomous interpretation of the ECHR and participation in judicial dialogue on concepts common to the ECHR and ICERD.’
* Heidi Nichols Haddad and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom, ‘Foreign agents or agents of justice? Private foundations, backlash against non-governmental organizations, and international human rights litigation’, Law and Society Review (2023):
‘The premise of Russia's 2012 “Foreign Agents” Law, one of the first such laws restricting foreign funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is that foreign monies equal foreign agendas. Since then, over 50 countries have adopted similar laws using a similar justification. This paper interrogates this claim of foreign donor influence through examining legal mobilization by human rights NGOs at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). We track donor support for litigation by providing an overview of all foundation grant flows relating to strategic litigation for 2013–2014, and then matching the granting activities of two major U.S. foundations over 14 years to human rights NGO participation in cases before the ECtHR. Further, through case studies of Russian NGOs, we assess the causal role that donor support has played in facilitating their increased involvement in ECtHR litigation. The combined analysis indicates broad patterns of private foundation support to litigating NGOs, but uncovers no evidence that foreign donors were “pushing” NGOs toward litigation as a strategy, but instead more evidence suggesting that NGOs convinced donors to support human rights litigation. Despite the inaccuracy of the justification underpinning Russia's foreign agent law, the law threatens the survival of human rights organizations.’
* Rebekah McWhirter and Martin Clark, ‘Expertise, Public Health and the European Convention on Human Rights: Vavřička v Czech Republic’, Modern Law Review (2023):
‘In Vavřička v Czech Republic, the European Court of Human Rights held that the Czech Republic's childhood vaccination policy did not contravene the Article 8 right to private life. This note presents a rhetorical and contextual analysis of the Court's engagement with questions of expertise. The majority's application of a wide margin of appreciation avoided grappling with the details of scientific and medical authority, as much as the political challenges raised by the application. We conclude by considering the wider context and limits of rights-based approaches to global public health.’