Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Article 8

  • Ellen Desmet, Ilse Derluyn and Sara Lembrechts

A mixed assessment on age assessment: F.B. v. Belgium

May 09, 2025

By Ellen Desmet, Ilse Derluyn and Sara Lembrechts F.B. v. Belgium concerns the decision of the Belgian Guardianship Service to terminate the support of an unaccompanied minor following an age assessment. While the ECtHR found a violation of Article 8 ECHR due to a lack of sufficient safeguards, it did not substantively engage with the […]

  • Mathieu Leloup

Green v. the United Kingdom: absolute parliamentary immunity in Parliament, no matter the cost?

May 02, 2025

by dr. Mathieu Leloup Introduction Parliamentary immunity is a staple of domestic constitutional law, designed to protect free speech in Parliament. It is present in some form or another in every country of the Council of Europe. Broadly defined, it is a legal instrument which inhibits legal action, measures of investigation, or measures of law […]

  • Reza Khabook

El Aroud and Soughir v. Belgium: Why the ECtHR Should Rethink Citizenship Revocation as a Criminal Punishment?

April 25, 2025

By Reza Khabook On 3 December 2024, the ECtHR issued a Chamber judgment in El Aroud and Soughir v. Belgium. This case concerns the applicants’ citizenship revocation[1] following their terrorism-related convictions in Belgium. The Court concluded that Article 8 had not been violated and excluded the case from the scope of Article 2 of Protocol […]

  • Catherine Van de Heyning

Strasbourg’s consolidation on technology-facilitated gender-based violence: M.Ș.D. v. Romania

April 22, 2025

By Catherine Van de Heyning As society digitalised, so did gender-based violence. Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) has become an unfortunate byproduct of digitalisation. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) already recognised that cyberviolence may amount to a violation of the right to privacy and, in some instances, even to degrading and inhuman treatment. In […]

  • Carmen Draghici

Fault-Based Divorce for Breach of Conjugal Duties: Reassessing Privacy and Sexual Freedom within Marriage 

April 15, 2025

by Carmen Draghici The Strasbourg Court has been notoriously reluctant to interfere with the domestic regulation of divorce, both as regards its availability (Johnston v. Ireland) and the grounds on which it may be obtained (Babiarz v. Poland, discussed here). Nonetheless, in H.W. v. France, issued in January 2025, it has shown willingness to review […]

  • Sophie Bols

In the footsteps of Darboe and Camara – Age assessment of unaccompanied minors in A.C. v. France: between procedure and protection

April 04, 2025

By Sophie Bols On 16 January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights issued another judgment, A.C. v. France, on age assessment procedures for unaccompanied minors and held that there was a violation of Article 8 ECHR. The Court emphasises the importance of procedural safeguards, reaffirming some of the findings established in Darboe and Camara […]

  • Violetta Sefkow-Werner

Individual vs. representative applications or environment vs. climate issues – The ECtHR’s Cannavacciuolo and Others v. Italy judgment

April 02, 2025

Violetta Sefkow-Werner The recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) in the case Cannavacciuolo and Others v. Italy of 30 January 2025 concerns a large-scale pollution phenomenon in the Italian Campania region caused by decades-long illegal and uncontrolled waste disposal by private actors and sustained by the government’s systematic […]

  • Lize R. Glas

Caldarar and Others v. Poland: A win for Roma rights, but not in every respect

March 21, 2025

by Lize R. Glas On 6 February 2025, the Court delivered the judgment Caldarar and Others v. Poland, concerning the demolition of a Roma encampment. The Polish Nomada Association for Multicultural Integration (‘Nomada’) welcomed the judgment as a ‘landmark ruling from Strasbourg’. The European Roma Rights Centre (‘ERRC’) issued a press release entitled ‘European Court […]

  • Corina Heri

Vindicating the ECtHR’s Role in Environmental Matters: Cannavacciuolo and Others v. Italy

March 11, 2025

Corina Heri On 20 January 2025, the ECtHR issued a Chamber judgment in Cannavacciuolo and Others v. Italy. This environmental pollution case concerns an area known colloquially as the Terra dei Fuochi (“Land of Fires”) because it is notoriously plagued by the illegal dumping, burying and burning of waste on private land. This decades-long practice, […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

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