Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Article 8

  • 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 […]

  • Maxim Krupskiy

Kobaliya and others v. Russia: Perverted transparency or when legislation on ‘Foreign Agents’ bears the hallmarks of a totalitarian regime?

January 17, 2025

Maxim Krupskiy Kobaliya and others v Russia concerns ‘foreign agent’ legislation in Russia and the way it developed since 2012. Russian legislation on ‘foreign agents’ had first come before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) in Ecodefence and Others v. Russia, where the Court found substantial violations of Article 11 (read in […]

  • Ufuk Yeşil

Çamurşen v. Türkiye: Unresolved Issues in Yalçınkaya on Internet Traffic Data Retention Deferred

January 10, 2025

by Ufuk Yeşil The European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter ‘the Court’) declared the case of Çamurşen v. Türkiye inadmissible on the grounds of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies. In this case, the applicant alleged a violation of the right to respect for private life, arguing that internet traffic data had been retained beyond the prescribed […]

  • Florian Van Tichelt

IT searches and seizures targeting lawyers: the case of Bersheda and Rybolovlev v. Monaco

December 13, 2024

by Florian Van Tichelt Introduction On the 6th of June 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: ‘the Court’) delivered a judgment in the case of Bersheda and Rybolovlev v. Monaco. In this case, the Court had to decide on a Monegasque criminal investigation in which a lawyer’s phone was perused by virtue of […]

  • Dr Stevie Martin

DÁNIEL KARSAI v. HUNGARY: FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF STATE OBLIGATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF ASSISTED DYING

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 […]

  • Alice Margaria

Trans Family Law in Strasbourg: The Bittersweet Flavour of Savinovskikh and Others v Russia

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 […]

  • Thibaut Lesseliers

Pindo Mulla v. Spain – Blood Transfusions to Jehovah’s Witnesses: is Protecting Personal Autonomy Through Procedural Justice Enough?

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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • Deekshitha Ganesan and Richard Köhler

Trans People in Prison and the Law: Lessons from W.W. v. Poland

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 […]

  • Dr. Tine Van Hof

Verhoeven v. France – Reconciling private international law and children’s rights law in international child abduction cases remains a difficult task

July 12, 2024

By Dr. Tine Van Hof On the 28th of March 2024, the European Court of Human Rights rendered a judgment in the case of Verhoeven v. France (application no. 19664/20). This case concerns Ms Verhoeven, who abducted her son from Japan to France. The French courts ordered the return of the child based on the […]

  • Vladislava Stoyanova

Biba v Albania: positive obligations under Article 8 and the question of causation

July 10, 2024

By Vladislava Stoyanova Biba v Albania raises multiple questions about the Court’s reasoning when State responsibility is established for breach of positive obligations under Article 8 ECHR. Given that three of the seven judges dissented, different answers are possible as to the scope and the content of these obligations in the school context and the […]

  • Jef Seghers

Scientific complexity and judicial legitimacy: What does the KlimaSeniorinnen judgment bode?

June 14, 2024

By Jef Seghers On 9 April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) issued its long-awaited Grand Chamber judgments in three climate litigation cases. This post is about the most comprehensive of the three judgments – and the only one in which the complaint was not ruled inadmissible: the one in the […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • Noa Vreven

M.L. v. Poland: potential to liberalise women’s abortion rights?

April 19, 2024

By Noa Vreven On 14 December 2023, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of M.L. v. Poland (no. 40119/21). The case concerned the prohibition of abortion on the legal grounds of foetal abnormality, following a much-discussed ruling by the Polish Constitutional Court of 2020. This legal development forced the applicant to […]

  • 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, […]

  • 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’. […]

  • 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 […]

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