July 17, 2024
By Saïla Ouald-Chaib “Les droits de l’homme n’existent pas. Ce sont les droits de l’homme blanc” These are the words of a young French Muslim girl whom I met when I was still in law school. She spoke those words when she learned I was studying human rights law. Her words stuck with me during […]
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 12, 2024
On 20 June 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, Court) published its judgment in Boronyák v. Hungary. The case concerned a fine imposed by the domestic courts on the applicant, Mr. Boronyák, for disclosing confidential information concerning the terms of his contract with a private company. The ECtHR unanimously held that there was […]
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 28, 2024
By Theresa Lanzl and Harriet Ní Chinnéide On the 18th of April, the ECtHR rejected a complaint from Russian musician, Philip Kirkorov, concerning the Lithuanian authorities’ decision to ban him from entering the country. After engaging in a full proportionality assessment, the Court found that his complaint was manifestly ill-founded and proportionate to the legitimate […]
June 21, 2024
By Dr Vesna Stefanovska On 14 May 2024, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment in the case of Mitrevska v. North Macedonia. The Court ruled that North Macedonia had violated its positive obligations under Article 8 of the Convention as the domestic authorities failed to strike a balance between the competing interests […]
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 […]
June 07, 2024
By Koen Lemmens Freedom of expression raises difficult legal questions for people occupying special positions in society. As a matter of principle they enjoy freedom of expression, but the specific position in which they find themselves may have an impact on the scope of that freedom. Judges are an example of a category of speakers […]
May 31, 2024
By Eleni Polymenopoulou On February 2nd 2024, the European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) issued Auray v France, an interesting judgment condemning France for restricting freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and protesters’ freedom of movement. The judgment, which is for now available in French only, became final on May 5th and builds on the […]
May 24, 2024
by Thibaut Lesseliers In the case of Föderation der Aleviten Gemeinden in Österreich, the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’, ‘the Court’) ruled on the Article 9 (freedom of religion) and Article 6 § 1 (reasonable time aspect of right to fair trial) complaints brought by an Alevi cultural association following the refusal of the […]
May 08, 2024
by dr. Elien Verniers In February, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a landmark judgment with significant animal welfare implications in Belgium and beyond in the case of Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium. The ECtHR decided, in line with the previous judgment of the European Court of Justice […]
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 30, 2024
Marion Sandner Two aspects in particular warrant attention in the recently decided case of Diaconeasa v. Romania: First, the continuing longstanding untenable attitude of some actors/authorities towards unpaid care work; second, the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR, the Court) approach to retrogressive measures on entitlements to benefits and State support. In this post, after […]
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 […]
April 16, 2024
By dr. Mathieu Leloup It is no secret that the protection of the independence of domestic judges has been high on the judicial agenda of the supranational courts in the recent past. Over the course of the last few years, issues related to judicial independence have been at the forefront of the case law of […]
April 12, 2024
Eva Brems In a previous blogpost I wondered whether scholars and teachers of the ECHR can really understand how the Court interprets the Convention, if we do not know what happens in the large majority of cases, in particular those dismissed as inadmissible by a single judge in a four-line decision devoid of motivation. This […]
April 09, 2024
Eva Brems ‘The European Court as the main violator of human rights’, it said on a PowerPoint slide in my ECHR class this semester. This was a presentation by a guest speaker: an attorney with a lot of experience with ECtHR procedures. I had simply invited him to talk about this experience, but he had […]
March 22, 2024
Dr. Alice Dejean de la Bâtie French criminal law forbids anyone to disclose or even publicly mention the name of the victim of sexual assault without their express written permission. Anyone. Ever. Even the defendants themselves. Even before any trial has taken place. Even if the victim’s name has previously been disclosed countless times. Can […]
March 19, 2024
By Vladislava Stoyanova Krachunova v. Bulgaria is the first judgment where the ECtHR addressed the question of compensation for victims of human trafficking as a positive obligation held by States under Article 4 of the Convention. As the Court noted at para 161, in this case, the Court is ‘for the first time confronted with […]