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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
October 04, 2024
1. Introduction On 29 August 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgement in Pasquinelli and others v. San Marino (24622/22) concerning COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines. The judgement, issued by the Court’s First Section, supplements the Court’s previous case law concerning COVID-19 vaccination and the pandemic in general (Communauté genevoise d’action syndicale (CGAS) […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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’. […]
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 […]
December 08, 2023
By Mathieu Leloup Polish rule of law cases are by no means still a novelty at the European Court of Human Rights. Over the course of the last couple of years, the Court has ruled on a wide variety of aspects concerning the Polish legal “reforms” of its judiciary, going from the composition of the […]
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 […]
November 21, 2023
By Maria Tzanou Do persons outside an ECHR Contracting State fall within the Convention’s territorial jurisdiction if their electronic communications were (or were at risk of being) intercepted, searched and examined by that State’s intelligence agencies operating within its borders for the purposes of a complaint under Article 8 ECHR? The ECtHR’s Fourth Section judgment […]