Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Article 14

  • Natalie Alkiviadou

Hate Speech, Positive Obligations and Free Speech: The ECtHR’s Expanding Framework in Minasyan and Others v. Armenia (2025)

March 07, 2025

Dr. Natalie Alkiviadou On the 7th January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR/Court) delivered the judgment of Minasyan and Others v. Armenia (2025). It addressed critical issues of hate speech, discrimination and the state’s positive obligations under Article 8 (the right to respect for private and family life) in conjunction with Article 14 […]

  • Louis Triaille

Clipea and Grosu v. the Republic of Moldova: an increasingly strict control on coercion and living conditions in psychiatric care

February 28, 2025

By Louis Triaille In its Clipea and Grosu v. the Republic of Moldova judgment, handed down on November 19, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) clarifies States’ positive obligations to protect in-patients with mental disabilities from ill-treatment in psychiatric institutions. The judgment illustrates an increasingly strict scrutiny by the ECtHR on institutional psychiatry, […]

  • Volkan Aslan

Bakradze v. Georgia: A Landmark Shift in the Burden of Proof for Judicial Appointments

February 21, 2025

Dr. Volkan Aslan In Bakradze v. Georgia, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Georgia had violated Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights in conjunction with Articles 10 and 11 in relation to the applicant, a former judge. The applicant alleged that she was discriminated against in two judicial competitions […]

  • Merel Vrancken

Reasonable accommodation in schools in S. v. the Czech Republic: How the ECtHR’s position on the CRPD has become untenable

February 04, 2025

By Merel Vrancken In the case of S. v. the Czech Republic, a child with autism spectrum disorder requested his school to provide reasonable accommodations, which were provided after a delay. In the subsequent court case on this issue, the child’s request to be heard was denied. Twice the absence of a medical report lay […]

  • Sibel Yılmaz Coşkun

Paradox of Escape from Violence: Suicide as a Potential Consequence of State Negligence in Vieru v. Moldova

January 31, 2025

By Dr. Sibel Yılmaz Coşkun In its judgment Vieru v. the Republic of Moldova (19 November, 2024), the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Moldova violated, among other rights, its substantive obligations under Article 3 ECHR by failing to provide adequate legal protection to T. and take effective measures against prolonged domestic abuse. However, […]

  • Alina Tryfonidou

Hanovs v. Latvia: Further clarification of the positive obligations of States in cases involving homophobic attacks

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 […]

  • Zoë Grossi and Pauline Charlotte Janssens

Zăicescu and Fălticineanu v. Romania: Forsaking Non-Retroactivity – a Positive Shift in Judicial Activism Recognising Secondary Victimisation

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 […]

  • Eva Sevrin and Merel Vrancken

Systemic discrimination of intellectually disabled children: V.I. v. Moldova paves the way

July 05, 2024

By Eva Sevrin and Merel Vrancken In the judgment of V.I. v. Moldova, the Court uses a fine-toothed comb to go over the string of events that left V.I. an orphaned child stuck in a psychiatric hospital. The Court not only assesses the applicant’s individual case under Article 3, but also highlights the structural issues […]

  • Elien Verniers

Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium: the ECtHR’s perspective on balancing animal welfare with religious freedom

May 08, 2024

by dr. Elien Verniers In February, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a landmark judgment with significant animal welfare implications in Belgium and beyond in the case of Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium. The ECtHR decided, in line with the previous judgment of the European Court of Justice […]

  • Ingrida Milkaitė, Marlies Vanhooren, Cathérine Van de Graaf, Pieter Cannoot, Eva Brems

Third Party Intervention to the ECtHR in Obesnikova v Bulgaria: Unpacking Gender Bias in Youth Football

May 03, 2024

By Ingrida Milkaitė, Marlies Vanhooren, Cathérine Van de Graaf, Pieter Cannoot, Eva Brems In February, 2024 the Human Rights Centre [1] (HRC) of Ghent University in Belgium submitted a third party intervention (TPI) before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) in the communicated case of Eva Hristova Obesnikova v Bulgaria (Application […]

  • Harriet Ní Chinnéide & Cathérine Van de Graaf

Prohibition of religious slaughter in Executief van de Moslims van België and others v. Belgium: Process-based review and a new legitimate aim

April 26, 2024

Harriet Ní Chinnéide & Dr. Cathérine Van de Graaf In Executief van de Moslims van België and others v Belgium the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR, the Court) assessed the compatibility of decrees adopted in Flanders and Wallonia banning the slaughter of animals without prior stunning, as practiced by observant Muslims and Jews […]

  • Cathérine Van de Graaf

Georgian Muslim Relations and Others v. Georgia – A bleeding pig’s head and other expressions of religious hatred with no police intervention

April 23, 2024

by dr. Cathérine Van de Graaf1 On 30 November, the Fifth Division of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Georgian Muslim Relations and Others v. Georgia. The Court ruled that Georgia had violated its positive obligations under Articles 8 and 9 of the Convention in conjunction with Article 14 as […]

  • Sarah Ganty and Dimitry V. Kochenov

Hijacking Human Rights to Enable Punishment by Association: Valiullina, Džibuti and Outlawing Minority Schooling in Latvia

November 23, 2023

by Sarah Ganty and Dimitry V. Kochenov[i] In Valiullina and others v. Latvia and Džibuti and others v. Latvia, the Fifth Section of the European Court of Human Rights unanimously approved of further restrictions on Russian-language education in Latvia, thereby depriving a huge proportion of the population of the Republic of Latvia of education in […]

  • Ignatius Yordan Nugraha

Consolidating the Legal Recognition and Protection of Same-Sex Couples: Koilova and Babulkova v. Bulgaria

November 07, 2023

by Ignatius Yordan Nugraha In today’s globalised world, a marriage contracted abroad is not a peculiar phenomenon. Same-sex couples from countries such as Bulgaria or Romania may decide to tie the knot in a country where same-sex marriage has been legalised to start a family life. These couples, however, face a major legal hurdle not […]

  • Dr. Andy Hayward

Maymulakhin and Markiv v. Ukraine – A Case of Love Conquering All?

July 04, 2023

by Dr. Andy Hayward, Durham Law School, Durham University, a.p.hayward@durham.ac.uk Following the important Grand Chamber decision in Fedotova and Others v. Russia, the Strasbourg Court has handed down two significant decisions on the legal recognition of same-sex couples. In Buhuceanu and Others v. Romania, the Court developed the principles established in Fedotova and weaponised the […]

  • Dr. Ronagh McQuigg

The Evolving Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on Domestic Abuse: A.E. v Bulgaria

June 27, 2023

by Dr. Ronagh McQuigg The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has now built up a substantial body of jurisprudence on domestic abuse. It is now firmly established that failure on the part of State authorities to respond in a sufficient manner to this issue may constitute violations of Articles 2, 3, 8 and 14 of […]

  • Claire Poppelwell-Scevak

‘Until social norms say I do’: How the Grand Chamber taketh and giveth away in Fedotova and Others v. Russia

April 12, 2023

By Claire Poppelwell-Scevak As we continue 2023, with the rise of the far right, the war in Ukraine and Russia’s absence at the Council of Europe, it may be difficult to be optimistic. However, I think that with the Grand Chamber’s judgment in Fedotova and Others v. Russia, there can be, at least, a sense […]

  • Titouan Berhaut-Streel & Charly Derave

Blood donation by men having sexual intercourse with other men: a prospective analysis of Drelon v. France

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. […]

  • Jonathan McCully

M.B. and Others v. Slovakia (No. 2): the need for an anti-racist approach in European Court of Human Rights’ decision

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 […]

  • Charly Derave and Hania Ouhnaoui

M. v. France: Recognising the existence of intersex persons, but not (yet) their bodily integrity

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 […]

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