Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Article 8

  • Dylan Couck

A doctoral programme protected by the right to education in Telek and Others v. Türkiye? More careful research required

June 23, 2023

By Dylan Couck On 21 March 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) found that Türkiye had violated the right to respect for private life under Article 8 on the one hand, and the right to education under Article 2 of the First Protocol on the other. Türkiye had expelled Alphan Telek, Edgar […]

  • Giulio Fedele

More protection than recognition for same-sex couples in Buhuceanu and Others v Romania

May 30, 2023

by Giulio Fedele, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, giulio.fedele@uniroma1.it With its latest decision in the case of Buhuceanu and Others v. Romania on 23 May 2023, the European Court of Human Rights returned to the subject of same-sex couples and legal recognition. To no-one’s surprise, the Court confirmed what it had already established just five […]

  • 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. […]

  • Nadia Rusinova

How long is too long in child abduction proceedings? Veres v. Spain

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 […]

  • Mathilde Hardt, Germain Haumont

Why was Totopa v. Spain struck out from the list? A case of silenced vulnerability of a migrant mother under complex procedural constraints

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 […]

  • Maija Dahlberg

More human rights at the cost of the state sovereignty? Clarifying the scope of applicability of Article 8 ECHR to social welfare benefits in Beeler v Switzerland

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.

  • Marie-Hélène Peter-Spiess

A.L. v. France: Domestic Surrogacy, Genetic Fatherhood, and the Best Interests of the Child

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 […]

  • Harriet Ní Chinnéide

Otite v the United Kingdom: What about the incentivising function of process-based review?

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 […]

  • Nele Schuldt

Pavlov v Russia: Welcoming the Court’s proactive shift in its handling of environmental complaints, including their evidentiary challenges*

November 15, 2022

Introduction On October 11th 2022, the third section of the Strasbourg Court delivered an important judgment in the case of Pavlov and Others v Russia (Application no. 31612/09), concerning air pollution, which will hopefully prove to have great ramifications for pending and future environmental and climate cases. In short, the majority spelled out that the […]

  • Serde Atalay and Vladislava Stoyanova

Jansons v Latvia: when is an ‘eviction’ actually an eviction?

November 10, 2022

By Serde Atalay and Vladislava Stoyanova When exactly does an eviction occur according to the Strasbourg Court? In Jansons v Latvia (application no. 1434/14), this question lurks behind the majority’s reasoning and the dissenting opinion of Judge O’Leary. This case is one of the “verticalized” cases brought before the Court, concerning, in essence, a private […]

  • Mathias Möschel

Basu v. Germany and Muhammad v. Spain: Room for improvement in the Court’s first judgments on racial profiling

November 08, 2022

by Mathias Möschel On 18 October 2022, the Third Section of the Strasbourg Court, decided two cases dealing for the first time with the question of whether and how far racial profiling by public authorities constitutes a violation of the Convention. The outcome is a mixed one. Whereas in Basu v. Germany the judges held […]

  • Zoe L. Tongue and Lewis Graham

Y.P. v Russia: Sterilisation Without Consent, Article 3, and Weak Reproductive Rights at the ECtHR

September 30, 2022

by Zoe L. Tongue and Lewis Graham On the 20th September 2022, the European Court of Human Rights handed down its judgment in Y.P. v Russia, a case concerning the non-consensual sterilisation of a 28-year-old women during a Caesarean section. The Court’s dismissal of the arguments made under Article 3 appears out of step with […]

  • Nona De Dier

Sabani v. Belgium: on handcuffs and home intrusions

June 09, 2022

By Nona De Dier In Sabani v. Belgium, the Court assessed whether an intrusion into the home of an undocumented immigrant with the aim of removing her from the national territory constitutes a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In Sabani’s case, the lack of an appropriate legal basis […]

  • Strasbourg Observers

Proving minority: the Human Rights Centre and CESSMIR submit a third party intervention regarding age assessment of unaccompanied minors

May 23, 2022

By Mathilde Brackx and Laura Cools The Human Rights Centre of Ghent University (Belgium) and the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR) recently submitted a third-party intervention (TPI) before the European Court of Human Rights in the communicated case of Fatoumata Diaraye BARRY v. Belgium. The case concerns a decision of […]

  • Yaman Akdeniz

The Calm Before the Storm? The Inadmissibility Decision in Wikimedia Foundation v. Turkey

April 18, 2022

On 24 March 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter ‘the European Court’) found the Wikimedia Foundation’s application inadmissible in relation to an access blocking decision involving Wikipedia, issued by a single judge in Turkey which lasted 2 years 8 months and 24 days. This article will provide a critical overview of the legal […]

  • Elvira Loibl

Abdi Ibrahim v. Norway: A new Zeitgeist regarding (intercultural) adoptions at the ECtHR

April 11, 2022

By Elvira Loibl Introduction The case concerned the decision by the Norwegian authorities to allow the adoption of a child by a ‘Norwegian Christian’ foster family against the wishes of his mother, a Muslim Somali refugee. The judgment seems to reflect the new Zeitgeist regarding adoptions, which came to be viewed more critically within the […]

  • Pieter Cannoot

Y. v. Poland: ECtHR case law on gender recognition remains embedded in cisnormativity

April 07, 2022

By Pieter Cannoot On 17 February 2022, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in the case of Y. v. Poland. The Court unanimously found no violation of Article 8 of the Convention (ECHR), and no violation of Article 14 taken together with Article 8. The case concerned a trans man who had […]

  • Diana Dimitrova

Ekimdzhiev and Others v. Bulgaria: Secret Surveillance and Electronic Communications Surveillance Only with Adequate Safeguards, or Nothing New Under the Sun

March 02, 2022

By Diana Dimitrova Introduction In the past years, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) has been asked numerous times to examine different aspects of the Council of Europe’s Member States’ (secret) surveillance regimes, ranging from (mass) secret surveillance against their own residents to bulk surveillance or interception of electronic communications coming from abroad. […]

  • Harriet Ní Chinnéide

Avci v Denmark: The Expulsion of Settled Migrants and the Pitfalls of Process-based Review in Strasbourg

February 04, 2022

Avci v Denmark concerns an expulsion order and a permanent re-entry ban issued by the Danish High Court against Mr Avci, a settled migrant born and raised in Denmark. This judgment provides a clear illustration of the burgeoning trend towards process-based, procedural review by the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter ‘the Court’) –  a […]

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