Strasbourg Observers
  • Anca Ailincai

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is at it again. On the non-ratification of the credentials of Azerbaijan’s parliamentary delegation

March 08, 2024

by Anca Ailincai On 24th January 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) resolved not to ratify the credentials of Azerbaijan’s parliamentary delegation. Consequently, the Azerbaijani delegation has been suspended from participating in PACE until further notice. The decision was based on substantive grounds, including the use of military force in Nagorno-Karabakh, […]

  • Dr Juan Ruiz Ramos

W.A. and Others v. Italy: Is a cry for help not enough to trigger non-refoulement?

March 05, 2024

By Dr Juan Ruiz Ramos Introduction W.A. and Others v. Italy concerns the procedures that States ought to follow to avoid violating the principle of non-refoulement under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). While procedural matters often do not create as much hype among academics as questions of substance—such as the […]

  • Dr Donatas Murauskas

Trial by media and the right to respond in Narbutas v. Lithuania

March 01, 2024

By Dr Donatas Murauskas Should anyone be left to the mercy of trial by media? ‘Never ever. Under no circumstances,’ underlines judge Kūris in his elaborated dissenting opinion in Mesić v. Croatia (no. 2), criticising the Chamber reasoning that sets ‘a very low standard for the protection of personality rights’. The case-law develops, and new contexts […]

  • Dr Dimitrios Kagiaros

O.G. and others v. Greece: A belated vindication for (some) sex workers living with HIV

February 27, 2024

By Dr Dimitrios Kagiaros In O.G. and others v. Greece, the Third Section of the ECtHR delivered a compelling judgment vindicating the rights of sex workers living with HIV in Greece who had been subjected to unprecedented public shaming and vilification by Greek authorities. While the judgment unequivocally denounced the actions of the Greek authorities, […]

  • Sarah Trotter

The construction of a right to birth registration in European human rights law: the case of G.T.B. v Spain

February 23, 2024

By Dr Sarah Trotter On 16 November 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (‘the ECtHR’) handed down its judgment in G.T.B. v Spain. It is a judgment that constitutes a significant moment in the development of the right to respect for private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (‘the […]

  • Dr. Türkan Ertuna Lagrand

Beyond Opuz v. Turkey: the CJEU’s Judgment in WS and the Refugee Law Consequences of the State’s Failure to Protect Victims of Domestic Violence

February 20, 2024

By Dr. Türkan Ertuna Lagrand Introduction Fifteen years after Opuz v. Turkey, Türkiye is once more the source for a groundbreaking judgment of a European court focusing on domestic violence. In its judgment of 16 January 2024 in WS (C-621/21), the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has established some long-awaited crucial interpretations to […]

  • Strasbourg Observers

Poll: Best and Worst ECTHR Judgment and Best Separate Opinion of 2023

February 16, 2024

Dear readers, With the holiday season now well behind us, we are taking the opportunity to look back and reflect on 2023. After the turbulent year that was 2022, 2023 did not exactly turn out to be less challenging in terms of the human rights related issues that have arisen – and continue to arise. […]

  • Ignatius Yordan Nugraha

Defusing a Brewing Conflict with the Constitution: Humpert and Others v Germany, Procedural Rationality, and the Right of Civil Servants to Strike

February 06, 2024

by Ignatius Yordan Nugraha Civil servants are constitutionally prohibited from striking in Germany. This general prohibition also affects State school teachers who have a civil servant status. On 14 December 2023, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in Humpert and Others v Germany that such a prohibition did not […]

  • Dániel Karsai and Viktor Kazai

Decorum without Democracy in the Hungarian Parliament: The Grand Chamber’s Potential Intervention in Ikotity and Others v Hungary

February 02, 2024

by Dániel Karsai[1] and Viktor Kazai[2] In October 2023, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in Ikotity and Others v Hungary and found that the Speaker’s refusal to grant three opposition Member of Parliaments (MPs) permission to use posters during a parliamentary debate, and the sanctions they received for having used the […]

  • Lidia Carchilan

Tadić v. Croatia – does discussing an ongoing case with a third party amount to a breach of impartiality under Article 6 § 1?

January 30, 2024

by Lidia Carchilan The impartiality of judges has been addressed by the Court on numerous occasions (see examples here, here, and here), providing the Court with the opportunity to develop a consistent line of case-law on the issue, from both its subjective and objective perspectives. In Tadić v. Croatia the Court ruled on the impartiality […]

  • Emma De Clerq

State omission to compensate unharvested wood, towards more consolidation? Associations of communally-owned forestry proprietors v. Romania

January 26, 2024

By Emma De Clerq In a recent judgment from 28 November 2023, the Strasbourg Court found a violation of the right to property, as environmental protections kept the applicants from enjoying the economic benefits of their forests, without compensation. The forests in question were designated as protected areas under the European “Natura 2000” network. This […]

  • Merel Spaander

Baret & Caballero v. France: unanimous refusal of access to posthumous reproduction with an uneasy aftermath

January 23, 2024

by Merel Spaander Given that the Strasbourg Club dedicated a discussion to the interesting case of Baret & Caballero v. France so recently, I can imagine that any reader would think: do we really need another blog post on this French case so soon? As an embryo law enthusiast, I must give a biased ‘yes’. […]

  • Tommaso Virgili

Internationale Humanitäre Hilfsorganisation v. Germany: An Organisation Supporting the Terrorist Entity Hamas Does Not Enjoy Protection under the ECHR

January 19, 2024

by Tommaso Virgili In the case of Internationale Humanitäre Hilfsorganisation e. V. v. Germany, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that the decision by the German authorities to dissolve and seize the assets of a charity due to its indirect support to the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas did not violate Article 11 of […]

  • Dr. Mateusz Wąsik

Przybyszewska and Others v. Poland: A Milestone for Poland while a Tiny Brick for Other Countries

January 16, 2024

by Dr. Mateusz Wąsik ‘Member States are required to provide a legal framework allowing same‑sex couples to be granted adequate recognition and protection of their relationship’, ruled the ECtHR in the latest judgment for same-sex couples in the case of Przybyszewska and Others v. Poland  on 12 December 2023. Academics and practitioners may say nihil […]

  • Felix Peerboom

A.D. v Malta: The Continuous Application of a Defective Asylum System

January 12, 2024

by Felix Peerboom On 17 October 2023, the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) published its ruling in A.D. v. Malta (press release available in English and French). The Court’s condemnation of Malta in this case for its ill-treatment of the applicant — a vulnerable asylum-seeker and presumed minor suffering from tuberculosis (TB), […]

  • Cristina Cocito

Glukhin v. Russia: facial recognition considered highly intrusive but not inconsistent with fundamental rights

January 09, 2024

By Cristina Cocito In Glukhin v. Russia of 4 July 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered an important ruling on the fundamental rights implications of technology. The case concerns compliance of facial recognition technology (hereafter FRT) with human rights. The judgment underlines the ‘highly intrusive’ nature of FRT. Most importantly, it finds […]

  • Dr. Alice Dejean de la Bâtie

Peaceful protest turned violent: Will Article 11 ECHR hold out against increased criminalisation?

December 22, 2023

By Dr. Alice Dejean de la Bâtie Lawmakers in Europe are tightening the grip of Criminal Law on public protests and gatherings, targeting demonstrations turning violent and threatening public order and safety (see below). This increase in repression carries the risk of unnecessary interference with the right to freedom of peaceful assembly enshrined in Article […]

  • Babette De Naeyer

The Pablo Hasél Case 2.0: Slander and Defamation of the Spanish Crown According to the ECtHR

December 19, 2023

by Babette De Naeyer Pablo Rivadulla Duró is a Spanish rapper, better known as Pablo Hasél, who was criminally convicted for writing several insulting tweets, in which he, for example, called the royal family ‘parasites’ and a ‘criminal gang’. He also wrote an offensive rap song, in which he accused King Emeritus Juan Carlos I […]

  • Daniel Krotov

How to Manage the End of Perpetual Challenging Rights? – The Case of Legros and Others v. France

December 15, 2023

by Daniel Krotov French administrative procedural law notoriously provides wide access to the courts that, from a foreign point of view, may even seem a bit excessive. One example was the possibility to challenge administrative acts indefinitely if they lacked proper instruction on the right to appeal. In an effort to restrict this perpetual challenging […]

  • Sabrina Praduroux

Is it Safe to Bury the Truth under the Family Tree? The ECtHR’s Response in Gauvin-Fournis and Silliau v France

December 12, 2023

By Sabrina Praduroux There have been longstanding ethical concerns regarding the anonymity of gamete donors in the context of medically-assisted reproduction techniques. In recent years, the increasing importance placed on the right to know one’s biological origins as a fundamental aspect of personal identity has also raised questions about the principle of donor anonymity from […]

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