Strasbourg Observers
  • Gaia Zanotti

Narrowing and Shallowing: Restricting the Right to Strike under Art. 11 ECHR in Kaya v. Türkiye and Almaz v. Türkiye

January 21, 2025

By Gaia Zanotti While Art.11 of the European Convention of Human Rights (‘ECHR’) protects the right to “form and join trade unions for the protection of [one’s] interests,” it does not explicitly address the tools trade unions may employ, like collective bargaining and collective action, including strikes. The status of the right to strike has […]

  • Maxim Krupskiy

Kobaliya and others v. Russia: Perverted transparency or when legislation on ‘Foreign Agents’ bears the hallmarks of a totalitarian regime?

January 17, 2025

Maxim Krupskiy Kobaliya and others v Russia concerns ‘foreign agent’ legislation in Russia and the way it developed since 2012. Russian legislation on ‘foreign agents’ had first come before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) in Ecodefence and Others v. Russia, where the Court found substantial violations of Article 11 (read in […]

  • Vesna Stefanovska, PhD

Hasmik Khachatryan v. Armenia: State’s failure to adequately respond to serious acts of domestic violence and to fulfill its positive obligations

January 14, 2025

By Vesna Stefanovska, PhD On 12 December 2024, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment in the case of Hasmik Khachatryan v. Armenia. The Court ruled that domestic authorities failed to conduct an autonomous, proactive, and comprehensive risk assessment of further violence and take adequate and sufficient measures to protect the applicant. Moreover, […]

  • Ufuk Yeşil

Çamurşen v. Türkiye: Unresolved Issues in Yalçınkaya on Internet Traffic Data Retention Deferred

January 10, 2025

by Ufuk Yeşil The European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter ‘the Court’) declared the case of Çamurşen v. Türkiye inadmissible on the grounds of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies. In this case, the applicant alleged a violation of the right to respect for private life, arguing that internet traffic data had been retained beyond the prescribed […]

  • Alexis Galand

J.B. v. Malta: The Systemic Consequences of Rule of Law Failures on Migrants’ Rights

January 07, 2025

Alexis Galand The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) in J.B. v. Malta highlights systemic deficiencies in Malta’s judicial and administrative systems, revealing how rule of law failures undermine the protection of fundamental rights. In this case, the Court found that Malta had unlawfully detained unaccompanied minors for six months in […]

  • Vladislava Stoyanova

Validity Foundation on behalf of T.J. v Hungary and the role of factual causation for finding breaches of positive obligations under the ECHR

December 20, 2024

by Vladislava Stoyanova Introduction Validity Foundation on behalf of T.J. v Hungary raises some important questions about the standard of causation in the human rights law reasoning. This blog post does not aim to challenge the conclusion in the judgment that in fact appears very reasonable. This post is rather a continuation of my reflections […]

  • Marie-Hélène Ludwig and Arpi Avetisyan

Ban on legal gender recognition: the missed opportunity of the Y.T. v Bulgaria revision

December 17, 2024

By Marie-Hélène Ludwig and Arpi Avetisyan Y.T. v. Bulgaria is among the rare cases where the ECtHR has adjudicated on the revision of a judgment under Rule 80 of the Rules of the Court. In its original judgment of 9 July 2020, the ECtHR found  a violation of ECHR Article 8 as domestic courts refused to grant legal gender […]

  • Florian Van Tichelt

IT searches and seizures targeting lawyers: the case of Bersheda and Rybolovlev v. Monaco

December 13, 2024

by Florian Van Tichelt Introduction On the 6th of June 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: ‘the Court’) delivered a judgment in the case of Bersheda and Rybolovlev v. Monaco. In this case, the Court had to decide on a Monegasque criminal investigation in which a lawyer’s phone was perused by virtue of […]

  • Eloïse Ward

Blurring the line between natural and legal persons in a company’s compensation for non-pecuniary damage: Affaire SCI Le Château du Francport c. France

December 10, 2024

By Eloïse Ward This post concerns the just satisfaction judgment of SCI Le Château du Francport v France. In this case, the European Court of Human Rights more elaborately explains the considerations of equity that justify the attribution of damages than usual. It therefore presents a good opportunity to examine the way in which the […]

  • Sarah Ganty and Eva Brems

The HRC Submits a Third-Party Intervention in Obaidi and Al Farj to the ECtHR: On the Ongoing Rule of Law Crisis and Asylum Seekers’ Rights Violation in Belgium

December 06, 2024

By Sarah Ganty and Eva Brems[1] Earlier this fall, the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University submitted a third-party intervention in the communicated cases of Obaidi and Others v. Belgium and Al Farj and Others v. Belgium, relating to the ‘post-Camara’ context. In these cases, the Court is faced with similar questions as in the […]

  • Timothy Roes

Missaoui and Akhandaf v Belgium: Cold Shower for Belgian Applications

December 03, 2024

by Timothy Roes It was supposed to be a welcome clarification on religious neutrality in public spaces. Instead, the application by two Muslim women banned from wearing full body swimwear in a public swimming pool was declared inadmissible, calling into question longstanding wisdom and causing considerable uncertainty. Departing from well-established case law on Article 35 […]

  • Kerem Altiparmak and Rumeysa Budak

Yasak v. Türkiye: A Green Light to the Retrospective Application of Criminal Law in Terror Cases?

November 29, 2024

By Kerem Altiparmak and Rumeysa Budak Introduction On 27 August 2024, the Second Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR/the Court) ruled that the principle of no crime and punishment without law (Article 7 ECHR) was not violated for the applicant Şaban Yasak, who was prosecuted and sentenced to imprisonment for membership of […]

  • Dr Stevie Martin

DÁNIEL KARSAI v. HUNGARY: FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF STATE OBLIGATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF ASSISTED DYING

November 26, 2024

By Dr. Stevie Martin Since its landmark 2002 decision in Pretty v the United Kingdom, the issue of assisted dying [1] has never been far from the attention of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The Court’s two most recent decisions in this context have been especially significant in terms of clarifying what the […]

  • Louise Reyntjens and Ruben Vilain

B.D. v. Belgium: a revisitation of the (in)adequacy of Belgian internment policy

November 22, 2024

By Louise Reyntjens and Ruben Vilain On August 27, in the B.D. v. Belgium judgment, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) once again found the Belgian government at fault for its treatment of interned persons in prisons. Under Belgian law, ‘internment’ is classified as a safety measure aimed at protecting society from ‘dangerous’ individuals, […]