Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Right to Education

  • Dylan Couck

A doctoral programme protected by the right to education in Telek and Others v. Türkiye? More careful research required

June 23, 2023

By Dylan Couck On 21 March 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) found that Türkiye had violated the right to respect for private life under Article 8 on the one hand, and the right to education under Article 2 of the First Protocol on the other. Türkiye had expelled Alphan Telek, Edgar […]

  • Merel Vrancken

Breaking the ‘circle of marginalisation’ through desegregation measures: X and Others v. Albania

July 01, 2022

By Merel Vrancken In the recent case of X and Others v. Albania on the segregation of Roma and Egyptian pupils in education, the ECtHR speaks up strongly against the wrongs of segregation, fifteen years after the Grand Chamber had first done so in the case of D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic. The […]

  • Cathérine Van de Graaf

The Human Rights Centre submitted a joint third party intervention in a case before the ECtHR against Belgium concerning a ban of religious symbols in public high schools

September 01, 2021

Cathérine Van de Graaf is a research fellow at the Academy for European Human Rights Protection (University of Cologne) and affiliated researcher at the Human Rights Centre (Ghent University). The Human Rights Centre of Ghent University (Belgium) submitted a joint third party intervention (TPI) before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) […]

  • Guest Blogger

The right to education in Transdniestria seven years after Catan and Others v. Moldova and Russia: are we there yet?

April 20, 2020

By Linda Hamid, Research Fellow at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies – Institute for International Law, KU Leuven On 4 December 2019, during a research stay in the Republic of Moldova, I travelled to the village of Doroțcaia, where I visited the ‘Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt’ lyceum and met with the principal, […]

  • Guest Blogger

Stoian v. Romania: the Court’s drift on disability rights intensifies

September 05, 2019

By Constantin Cojocariu On 25 June 2019, the Court released an eagerly awaited judgment in the case of Stoian v. Romania, brought by a disabled child and his mother, who complained about the denial of the right to education. The Court, ruling as a Committee, rejected all claims, brutally ending an unprecedented litigation campaign on […]

  • Guest Blogger

Dupin v. France: the ECtHR going old school in its appraisal of inclusive education?

February 11, 2019

By Johan Lievens (VU Amsterdam) and Marie Spinoy (Leuven Centre for Public Law, KULeuven) In Dupin v. France the European Court of Human Rights saw itself confronted with one of the key conflicts in education law: when parents and state officials disagree on which educational trajectory is best for a child with a disability, who […]

  • Guest Blogger

Disability and University (pragmatic) Activism: the pros and cons of Enver Şahin v Turkey

March 09, 2018

By Joseph Damamme, PhD candidate at the Centre of European Law of the Université libre de Bruxelles, member of the Equality Law Clinic & Advisor to Counsel (Constantin Cojocariu) in the case of Gherghina v Romania. Economic and time constraints are often used as a justification for refusing or delaying necessary changes to the environment […]

  • Saïla Ouald Chaib

Religious signs in public schools: Belgian Council of State shows judicial bravery

November 04, 2014

Co-authored by Yousra Benfquih* and Saïla Ouald Chaib** As in many other countries in Europe, the wearing of religious signs has been the topic of heated debate in Belgium. This has been the case for public servants, teachers, employees in private firms and the wearing of religious signs by pupils in school. It is the […]

  • Guest Blogger

Mansur Yalçın v. Turkey: religious education and the (easy) way out

October 10, 2014

This guest post was written by Yousra Benfquih, FWO aspirant, PhD Fellow Research Foundation Flanders at the University of Antwerp. In the case of Mansur Yalçın v. Turkey, 14 Turkish nationals living in Istanbul who are adherents of the Alevi faith, complained before the Court that the way in which the religion and ethics class […]

  • Laurens Lavrysen

Education in prison: right to education only protects access in case of ‘existing’ educational facilities (Velyo Velev v. Bulgaria)

June 13, 2014

In Velyo Velev v. Bulgaria, the Court found a violation of the right to education (Article 2 Protocol 1) in a case concerning the refusal to allow a prisoner to enrol in a secondary school operating inside the prison. While the judgment should be hailed for explicitly affirming that remand prisoners also enjoy the right […]

  • Guest Blogger

Guest post on Epistatu v. Romania: a missed opportunity for clarification on (young) prisoners’ education

October 11, 2013

This guest post was written by Yousra Benfquih* In the case of Epistatu v. Romania of 24 September 2013 before the European Court of Human Rights, the applicant, Mr. Cristian Epistatu, a Romanian national and final-year high-school student born in 1990, was sentenced to five and a half years’ imprisonment by a judgment of 12 […]

  • Alexandra Timmer

Horváth and Kiss v. Hungary: a strong new Roma school segregation case

February 06, 2013

The Strasbourg Court has once more delivered a judgment in a Roma school segregation case. The applicants in Horváth and Kiss v. Hungary are two young Roma men, who were diagnosed as having mild mental disabilities when they were children. As a result of these diagnoses, they were placed in a remedial school. Their education […]

  • Saïla Ouald Chaib

Immigration, education and integration. A cloudy combination. (Anatoliy Ponomaryov and Vitaliy Ponomaryov v. Bulgaria)

July 07, 2011

Immigration was a challenge in the past, is still a challenge now and will probably remain a challenge in the future for policy makers as well as for judges. Especially when it comes to public services for individuals staying irregularly in a country, this issue becomes more difficult. Can the regular or irregular stay of […]

  • Weichie

Lautsi v. Italy: the Argument from Neutrality

March 22, 2011

Lautsi v. Italy was destined to achieve legendary status in the ECtHR’s case law. In fact, it became the stuff of legends long before the Grand Chamber’s judgment came out. Rarely has a judgment of a supranational court put such a spell on people. Rarely has it inspired such passionate comments and speculation even before […]