Strasbourg Observers

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  • 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 […]

  • Koen Lemmens

“That’s what she said!” – Alexandru Pătraşcu v. Romania

April 11, 2025

By Koen Lemmens Liability for what others said on social media remains a complicated issue as a recent ECtHR judgment illustrates once again. In Alexandru Pătraşcu v. Roumania, the Court had to assess the applicant’s civil conviction for statements made by him, but also for statements made by other persons, on his Facebook page. According […]

  • 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 […]

  • Stephanie Motz and Annina Mullis

Undermining protection standards in pushbacks cases: The ECtHR in A.R.E. v. Greece and G.R.J. v. Greece

March 28, 2025

Stephanie Motz and Annina Mullis On 7 January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (Court/ECtHR) published its findings in A.R.E. v. Greece and G.R.J. v. Greece. In these two cases, the Court adjudicated for the first time specifically on pushback allegations at the hands of Greek authorities. Both applications were part of a series of […]

  • Merel Vrancken

Salay v. Slovakia: the Court disproportionately focuses on testing in condemning the disproportionate placement of Roma children in special education

March 25, 2025

By Merel Vrancken In Salay v. Slovakia the European Court of Human Rights held that the overrepresentation of Roma pupils in special education in Slovakia constituted discrimination. The ECtHR’s ruling in Salay v. Slovakia is very similar to that of the Grand Chamber in D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic in 2007. Nonetheless, Salay […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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, […]

  • Philip Leach

Political prosecutions and unfair trials – Strasbourg scrutiny enhanced

February 18, 2025

by Philip Leach Introduction With the ominous prospect of further political prosecutions in some parts of Europe, it is welcome that the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’, ‘ECtHR’) has taken a significant step to ensure greater accountability. It has done so by developing its case law under Article 18 of the European Convention […]

  • Alfred Benny Auner

A.P. v. Austria: Death of Conscript During ‘Heat March’ – The Question of Causality

February 14, 2025

By Alfred Benny Auner T.P. died during a ‘heat march’, merely one month into his compulsory military service. Although the decision to hold the march in extreme temperatures was considered ‘problematic’ by national authorities, and the military personnel involved acted negligently after T.P. collapsed, the ECtHR, in its judgment of 26 November 2024, A.P. v. Austria (1718/21), found […]

  • 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, […]

  • Charlotte de Meeûs

Associated Newspapers Limited v. the United Kingdom: Can freedom of expression be compromised by excessive recoverable costs in defamation cases?

January 28, 2025

by Charlotte de Meeûs Introduction On 12 November 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’) handed down its judgment in the case Associated Newspapers Limited v. the United Kingdom. The ECtHR assessed the compatibility of the recoverability of legal costs including success fees arising from conditional fee arrangements (‘CFAs’) and after-the-event (‘ATE’) insurance premiums […]

  • Vesna Stefanovska, PhD

Hasmik Khachatryan v. Armenia: State’s failure to adequately respond to serious acts of domestic violence and to fulfill its positive obligations

January 14, 2025

By Vesna Stefanovska, PhD On 12 December 2024, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment in the case of Hasmik Khachatryan v. Armenia. The Court ruled that domestic authorities failed to conduct an autonomous, proactive, and comprehensive risk assessment of further violence and take adequate and sufficient measures to protect the applicant. Moreover, […]

  • 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 […]

  • Alexis Galand

J.B. v. Malta: The Systemic Consequences of Rule of Law Failures on Migrants’ Rights

January 07, 2025

Alexis Galand The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) in J.B. v. Malta highlights systemic deficiencies in Malta’s judicial and administrative systems, revealing how rule of law failures undermine the protection of fundamental rights. In this case, the Court found that Malta had unlawfully detained unaccompanied minors for six months in […]

  • Vladislava Stoyanova

Validity Foundation on behalf of T.J. v Hungary and the role of factual causation for finding breaches of positive obligations under the ECHR

December 20, 2024

by Vladislava Stoyanova Introduction Validity Foundation on behalf of T.J. v Hungary raises some important questions about the standard of causation in the human rights law reasoning. This blog post does not aim to challenge the conclusion in the judgment that in fact appears very reasonable. This post is rather a continuation of my reflections […]

  • Eloïse Ward

Blurring the line between natural and legal persons in a company’s compensation for non-pecuniary damage: Affaire SCI Le Château du Francport c. France

December 10, 2024

By Eloïse Ward This post concerns the just satisfaction judgment of SCI Le Château du Francport v France. In this case, the European Court of Human Rights more elaborately explains the considerations of equity that justify the attribution of damages than usual. It therefore presents a good opportunity to examine the way in which the […]

  • Sarah Ganty and Eva Brems

The HRC Submits a Third-Party Intervention in Obaidi and Al Farj to the ECtHR: On the Ongoing Rule of Law Crisis and Asylum Seekers’ Rights Violation in Belgium

December 06, 2024

By Sarah Ganty and Eva Brems[1] Earlier this fall, the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University submitted a third-party intervention in the communicated cases of Obaidi and Others v. Belgium and Al Farj and Others v. Belgium, relating to the ‘post-Camara’ context. In these cases, the Court is faced with similar questions as in the […]

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