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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
November 19, 2024
by Alice Margaria The European Court of Human Rights (the Court) is becoming increasingly familiar with some of the struggles faced by trans parents. Over the last four years alone, it has ruled on at least three relevant cases: two concerning the termination of parental rights and one tackling the especially sensitive matter of parental […]
November 15, 2024
By Thibaut Lesseliers The recent Pindo Mulla v. Spain grand chamber judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’, ‘the Court’) concerns the judicial authorization of the administration of a blood transfusion to a Jehovah’s Witness in an emergency situation in spite of her formally and repeatedly expressed desire to, for religious reasons, under […]
November 12, 2024
By Alina Tryfonidou The rise of homophobic and transphobic crime is a deeply troubling and pervasive issue in modern day Europe (see the FRA LGBTIQ Survey (2024), pp. 54-76). A key factor behind this is the growing wave of right-wing populism, which has contributed to an increasingly hostile social and political climate, where divisive rhetoric often targets […]
November 08, 2024
by Zoë Grossi and Pauline Charlotte Janssens Introduction On 23 April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment in the case of Zăicescu and Fălticineanu v. Romania. The Court unanimously held that Romania violated Article 8 juncto Article 14 of the Convention by acquitting two high-ranking military officials previously convicted of war […]
November 05, 2024
By Ola Johan Settem On 24 September 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a Grand Chamber judgment in Fabbri and others v. San Marino (6319/21). The judgment concerns the rights of crime victims who attempt to pursue a civil claim against the offender by joining the criminal proceedings. The Grand Chamber clarifies […]
October 31, 2024
By Cathérine Van de Graaf, Eva Brems and Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez The Human Rights Centre[i] of Ghent University, joined by prof. Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez (Université Paris Nanterre) submitted a third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) in the communicated case of F.D. and I.M. and three others v. France (38506/23, […]
October 29, 2024
By Sarah Ganty In Dian, the Court flushes the promise of the Lăcătuş judgment that ‘begging, as a form of the right to call on another person to obtain his or her assistance, must evidently be regarded as a basic freedom’ (§59) down the drain. The Court adopts a skewed vision of poverty, finding in […]
October 25, 2024
by Dr. iur. Yasir Gökce The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) pronounced recently an interesting judgment in the Yasak case, which appears to negate many of its conclusions in the landmark Yalcinkaya ruling. In the latter judgment, the Court characterised the practice of the Turkish judiciary to equate the alleged download or use of […]
October 22, 2024
By Isabel Kienzle and Jonathan Kießling For the first time, in M.A. and Z.R. v. Cyprus, the ECtHR has decided on a pushback case against Cyprus, addressing the island state’s practice to intercept and return migrants arriving from Lebanon without an individual assessment of their protection needs. As the parties provided conflicting accounts of the […]
October 18, 2024
Deekshitha Ganesan and Richard Köhler On 11 July 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) delivered an important decision in the case of W.W. v. Poland, finding that Polish prison authorities’ denial of access to hormone replacement therapy to a trans woman who was imprisoned violated Article 8 of the European Convention on […]
October 14, 2024
8-9 May 2025, Ghent Founded in April 2010, the Strasbourg Observers Blog is soon celebrating its 15th Anniversary. At this occasion, we are organizing a symposium in Ghent, Belgium. This symposium will be an occasion for real-life exchange between the blog’s readers, contributors and the current and former members of its editorial team. At the […]
October 11, 2024
Moritz Baumgärtel On 3 October 2024, the Fifth Section of the ECtHR, sitting as a Committee, delivered its judgment in the case of M.A. and others v. Greece. The Court found a violation of Article 3 ECHR due to the unacceptable living conditions in the Chios Vial and Samos Reception and Identification Centres (“RICs”). Together […]
October 04, 2024
1. Introduction On 29 August 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgement in Pasquinelli and others v. San Marino (24622/22) concerning COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines. The judgement, issued by the Court’s First Section, supplements the Court’s previous case law concerning COVID-19 vaccination and the pandemic in general (Communauté genevoise d’action syndicale (CGAS) […]
September 27, 2024
The Ghent University Human Rights Centre is proud to announce a new initiative! The team at the HRC has been scanning all communicated ECtHR cases regularly for a while. We find this helpful for our research, as well as for deciding on third party interventions. Starting from September, we will now be making these overviews […]