March 31, 2023
By Ingrida Milkaitė On 23 January 2023, the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR found that restricting and labelling a book of fairy tales as harmful to children solely because of LGBTI content breached Article 10 ECHR. For the first time in the Court’s case-law, Macatė v. Lithuania (app. no. 61435/19) assessed restrictions imposed on literature […]
March 28, 2023
By Elaine Dewhurst There is currently a gender pension gap of approximately 26% in the EU27 caused by a variety of inequalities but certainly compounded by the fragmented life course of many women. This raises distinct questions around discrimination on grounds of gender and age, and the intersectional burden of both of these grounds in […]
March 24, 2023
Dmitry Kurnosov Russia’s expulsion from the Council of Europe (‘CoE’) and, consequently, from the European Convention system has left almost 17 thousand cases pending before the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’, ‘the Court’). That number will rise further as the Court has declared that it will accept applications concerning acts and omissions under Russian […]
March 21, 2023
By Titouan Berhaut-Streel & Charly Derave On 8 September 2022, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgement in Drelon v. France. The case concerns Mr Drelon’s denied applications to donate blood because he refused to answer whether he had ever had sex with other men and therefore to disclose his alleged sexual orientation. […]
March 17, 2023
Christopher Roberts Machalikashvili and Others v. Georgia concerned the killing of T.M. by members of the Counter-Terrorism Department of the State Security Service (‘SSS’) of Georgia on 26 December 2017. The precise circumstances in which this killing took place, as well as the integrity and comprehensiveness of the investigation subsequently conducted into the killing, were […]
March 14, 2023
In February, we presented our readers with the 2022 Strasbourg Observers Best & Worst Poll, in which we asked you to vote for your preferred candidates as shortlisted for the categories of Best Judgment of 2022, Worst Judgment of 2022, and Best Separate Opinion of 2022. We would like to thank everyone who participated in […]
March 10, 2023
By Kelly Matheson, Anders Carlson and Paul Rink All eyes will be on Strasbourg this spring when the Grand Chamber hears the first two in a trio of cases legally defining the relationship between human rights and climate change: KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland, Carême v. France, and Duarte Agostinho v. Portugal and 31 Others. Courts around […]
March 07, 2023
By Nadia Rusinova The recent judgment in Veres v. Spain once more revolves around the time factor in proceedings related to child abduction. It concerns the violation of the father’s right to respect for his family life under Article 8 of the ECHR (hereinafter: the Convention). It demonstrates the detrimental effect of judicial delays especially […]
March 03, 2023
Jonathan McCully The European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) has acknowledged on a number of occasions that ‘racial discrimination is a particularly egregious kind of discrimination and, in view of its perilous consequences, requires from the authorities special vigilance and a vigorous reaction’ (Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, para. 43). Nonetheless, over […]
February 28, 2023
by Jacob van de Kerkhof On 15 December 2022, the European Court of Human Rights rendered its judgment in Peradze et al v Georgia, concerning 7 protestors who were arrested at a demonstration against a construction project for holding banners with lewd language (along the lines of ‘[construction project], my cock’). The applicants received a minor administrative […]
February 24, 2023
by Mathilde Hardt and Germain Haumont Totopa v. Spain was struck out from the list on May 10, 2022. The case has not been judged. It was rather considered as “resolved” under Article 37(1)(b) ECHR. For once the application had been lodged, the Spanish Government finally gave the applicant what she had been asking for […]
February 21, 2023
By Maija Dahlberg In Beeler v Switzerland the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had to balance between its far-reaching human rights interpretations and the principle of state sovereignty. Concretely, the case concerned an interesting interpretative question whether to extend the scope of applicability of Article 8 ECHR to social welfare benefits.
February 17, 2023
by Dr. Rebecca Smyth In S.F.K. v. Russia and G.M. and Others v. The Republic of Moldova , the European Court of Human Rights (the Court/ECtHR) found both States responsible for violations of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) due to the applicants being forced to have an abortion against their […]
February 14, 2023
By Charly Derave and Hania Ouhnaoui On 19 May 2022, the European Court of Human Rights communicated its admissibility decision in the case of M. v. France, which deals with “normalising” medical treatments of intersex persons (i.e. those who are born with sex characteristics that do not fit the typical definition of the female and […]
February 10, 2023
By Marie-Hélène Peter-Spiess[1] In its recent judgment A.L. v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (the “ECtHR” or the “Court”) looked into the issue of domestic surrogacy and legal fatherhood in a situation where two paternal figures are on the line. More specifically, the case featured a surrogacy-born child that the surrogate entrusted to […]
February 07, 2023
Merel Vrancken In the recent case of Elmazova and Others v. North Macedonia, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) received another opportunity to speak out against (Roma) segregation in education. It rose wonderfully to the occasion. In a unanimous and well-reasoned judgment, the Court condemns the existing segregation and clarifies that […]
February 02, 2023
Dear readers, The year 2022 has been tempestuous for the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. Most notably, of course, was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The return of war on the European continent and the human suffering associated with it highlight the importance of defending human rights, democracy and the […]
January 31, 2023
By Dr Elif Askin The prohibition of discrimination in Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has been criticised for being a ‘parasitic’ right of marginal impact and ‘a kind of a Cinderella provision that has not been given an opportunity to shine’. Over the past decade, however, the European Court of […]
January 27, 2023
by Harriet Ní Chinnéide Otite v the United Kingdom revolves around the expulsion of a settled migrant from the United Kingdom following his conviction for two counts of conspiracy to make or supply articles for use in fraud. In its ruling, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that the balancing exercise carried out […]
January 24, 2023
By Dr Alice Margaria What is the role of and what is expected of a (legal) father? From a legal perspective, this question that goes well beyond the scope of family law, and the recent judgment in Beeler v Switzerland, decided by the Grand Chamber on 11 October 2022, is a case in point. In […]