September 18, 2026
By Katarzyna Widlas-Klimsiak How should the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) reconcile, under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a State’s obligation to secure appropriate psychiatric care with the limits that autonomy and consent place on imposing such care? Three recent judgments illuminate different sides of this problem. In Spivak v […]
September 01, 2026
By Engin Firat Everyone is calling G.K. and A.S. v. Switzerland the vegan judgment. On 16 July 2026 the European Court of Human Rights held for the first time that dietary rules ‘dictated by genuine and consistently held vegan beliefs’ fall within the scope of Article 9 of the Convention, the freedom of thought, conscience […]
August 28, 2026
By Vesna Stefanovska On 7 July 2026, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in Al Nashiri v. Lithuania. The applicant had been detained for more than five months in a CIA detention facility in Lithuania, resulting in several Convention violations. In relation to Article 8, the Court found a violation on account […]
August 25, 2026
By Casper Vanspauwen On 30 June 2026, the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR decided to strike out the applications constituting the case of Vainik and Others v. Estonia. In doing so, the Court effectively annulled its earlier Chamber judgment of 4 November 2025, in which it had ruled in favour of the applicants by a […]
August 21, 2026
By Gor Vartazaryan 1. Introduction: A Court That Is More Visible Than Ever? The relationship between the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Europe’s governments has rarely been under greater political scrutiny. Over the past year, migration has become the main point of an intense debate over the future of the Convention system. The […]
Strasbourg Observers is an academic blog that discusses recent developments at the European Court of Human Rights. The blog is run as an inter-university collaboration amongst the Dutch-language universities of Belgium. Associated research groups are the Human Rights Centre at Ghent University, the Centre for Government and Law at Hasselt University, the Leuven Centre for Public Law at KU Leuven, the Law and Development Research Group at the University of Antwerp and the Vakgroep Publiekrecht at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
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August 18, 2026
By Faraz Shahlaei In 2019, following Paris Saint-Germain’s controversial elimination from the UEFA Champions League against Manchester United, Neymar, PSG’s Brazilian football star, posted an Instagram story criticizing the referee’s decision to award a decisive penalty in the final minutes of the match. The story read: ‘This is a disgrace, they put four people who […]
August 14, 2026
By Işıl Kurnaz From the 2003 decision in M.C. v. Bulgaria to the January 2026 decision in Z v. Iceland, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has been applying its consent-based approach to sexual violence cases with increasing rigour. Consequently, it is no longer merely how a Member State defines sexual violence that shapes […]
August 11, 2026
By Igor Mirzakhanyan Amid ongoing discussions about the potential withdrawal of interstate cases before the ECtHR (along with all other claims before international legal forums) pursuant to Article XV of the initialed agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Court has delivered a new judgment concerning the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict. On 18 June 2026, the Court […]
July 17, 2026
by Emma de Vries The European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe (hereafter: the Venice Commission or the Commission) published its Updated Rule of Law Checklist in December 2025. Among other, the Checklist affords a more central place to the relationship between the Rule of Law and academic and educational institutions. […]
July 14, 2026
by Dr Gunay Ismayilova The European Court of Human Rights’ recent judgment in Addonizio and Others v Italy, concerning the long-term environmental consequences of waste mismanagement in the Terra dei Fuochi region, islikely to be remembered as an environmental case under Article 8 of the Convention that settles an up until then evolving approach to […]
July 10, 2026
by Dr David Mier Galera In Biliński v. Poland (April 15, 2026), the ECtHR once again defends the independence of Polish judges against arbitrary actions by higher judicial bodies and the National Council of the Judiciary affected by the judicial reform in Poland. The judicial reform in Poland was approved in 2017, but its effects […]
June 30, 2026
By Babette De Naeyer Imagine this: it’s December and you live in Georgia – obviously, it’s dreadful outside. You work as one of the many cogs in the platform economy: driving around on your scooter in the pouring rain, trying to deliver warm pizzas on people’s doorsteps. Recently, your city’s mayor overhauled the urban transport […]
June 26, 2026
By Ina Siggemann The recent judgment in Novák v. the Czech Republic (9 April 2026) exposes a frustrating reality: how domestic courts permit the weaponisation of time to validate unlawful action under the guise of the child’s ‘best interest’. The case concerns a father’s gruelling battle against both parental alienation from his children and judicial […]
June 23, 2026
By dr. Ufuk Yeşil Introduction On May 5, 2026, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgment in the case of Yasak v. Türkiye (Application No. 17389/20). By a majority, the Court held that the conviction of the applicant under Article 314 § 2 of the Turkish Penal Code […]
June 19, 2026
by Philip Nedelcu On 31 March 2026, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgment in the case of Yuriy Dmitriyev v. Russia (case no. 47934/17), one of the several thousand individual applications still pending against Russia after it ceased to be a member of the Council of Europe on 16 September 2022. […]