Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Disability

  • Merel Vrancken

Not the Court’s finest work: inclusive education and reasonable accommodations for pupils with disabilities in T.H. v. Bulgaria

July 20, 2023

By Merel Vrancken In the case of T.H. v. Bulgaria, the European Court of Human Rights finds that a school provided sufficient reasonable accommodation to satisfy the needs of a pupil with a disability and that no discrimination or harassment existed. This judgment follows several other cases about the inclusion of pupils with disabilities in […]

  • Ioana Iliescu

The implementation of ECtHR psychiatry-related judgments in Romania: UN CRPD standards as a way forward

June 16, 2023

by Ioana Iliescu, Law and Advocacy Officer at the European Implementation Network, a Strasbourg-based NGO working exclusively to advocate for the full and effective implementation of ECtHR judgments. Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) concerning psychiatry in Romania have proven particularly challenging to implement. These cases concern, inter alia, issues ranging […]

  • Eva Sevrin and Emma Várnagy

G.M. and Others v Moldova: Beyond paternalism for women with intellectual disabilities and their reproductive rights

January 03, 2023

By Eva Sevrin and Emma Várnagy G.M. and Others v The Republic of Moldova concerns the imposition of abortions and contraceptive measures upon women with intellectual disabilities. In finding an Article 3 violation, the Court has not only added to its case law on reproductive rights, but also contributed to disability rights under the convention, […]

  • Andrea Broderick

Arnar Helgi Lárusson v. Iceland: Muddying the Waters on Inaccessibility of Public Buildings

August 30, 2022

By Andrea Broderick On 31 May 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) published its ruling in Arnar Helgi Lárusson v. Iceland. The applicant is a wheelchair user who brought a complaint at the domestic and European levels regarding the lack of accessibility of buildings that housed arts and cultural centres run by the municipality where […]

  • Naomi Blomme

N. v. Romania (No. 2): ‘To be or not to be?’- applying Article 8 or Article 14 ECHR in mental-health cases

April 25, 2022

By Naomi Blomme In the case of N. v. Romania No. 2 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) found Romania to be in breach of its obligations under the Convention in respect of N. for the second time. Both cases relate to the treatment of mentally disabled persons. The first case […]

  • Daniel Krotov and Yannick Schoog

An Audacious Shortcut: The European Court of Human Rights’ New Approach to French “Wrongful Life” Cases

March 25, 2022

By Daniel Krotov and Yannick Schoog On 3 February 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR; the Court) handed down yet another judgement on compensation for a child’s erroneously undetected disability in the aftermaths of the French “loi anti-Perruche”. Over 15 years after Draon and Maurice, the Court reached a similar conclusion but opted for a […]

  • Roxanna Dehaghani

Not vulnerable enough? A missed opportunity to bolster the vulnerable accused’s position in Hasáliková v. Slovakia

November 23, 2021

By Dr Roxanna Dehaghani Who satisfies the definition of a ‘vulnerable accused’ and does a failure to provide reasonable adjustments undermine Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights? These questions were central to the judgment in Hasáliková v Slovakia. This comment focuses on A’s claim regarding vulnerability and the absence of adjustments, in […]

  • Merel Vrancken

Disenfranchisement of woman with a disability (yet again) reveals ECtHR’s struggle with CRPD in Caamaño Valle v. Spain

June 23, 2021

By Merel Vrancken, PhD student and assistant in constitutional law at UHasselt. In the case of Caamaño Valle v. Spain, the ECtHR held that the disenfranchisement of a woman with a mental disability did not amount to a violation of her right to vote under art. 3 of Protocol No. 1, nor did it amount […]

  • Guest Blogger

Kargakis v. Greece: Protection in Substance for Detainees with Disabilities but a Web of Missed Opportunities

March 12, 2021

By Andrea Broderick (Assistant Professor of International and European Law, Maastricht University, The Netherlands) and Delia Ferri (Professor of Law, Maynooth University, Ireland) Delia Ferri and Andrea Broderick have collaborated on several recent publications, including the first textbook on International and European Disability Law and Policy: Texts, Cases and Materials (Cambridge University Press, 2019), and […]

  • Guest Blogger

Substantive equality as the driving force behind reasonable accommodations for pupils with disabilities: the case of G.L. v. Italy

October 01, 2020

By Merel Vrancken (UHasselt) In G.L. v. Italy, the first section of the European Court of Human Rights decides on yet another case regarding the principle of inclusive education and the right to reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. The two most recent cases on inclusive education (Dupin v. France and Stoian v. Romania, decided […]

  • Guest Blogger

Stoian v. Romania: the Court’s drift on disability rights intensifies

September 05, 2019

By Constantin Cojocariu On 25 June 2019, the Court released an eagerly awaited judgment in the case of Stoian v. Romania, brought by a disabled child and his mother, who complained about the denial of the right to education. The Court, ruling as a Committee, rejected all claims, brutally ending an unprecedented litigation campaign on […]

  • Guest Blogger

Glaisen v. Switzerland : the Court still gives up on reasonable accommodation

August 15, 2019

By Morgane Ventura – PhD researcher at the Geneva University (UNIGE) On 18 July 2019, the European Court of Human Rights published its inadmissibility decision in the case of Glaisen v. Switzerland, regarding the access of a disabled person to a cinema. Glaisen complained that the cinema company denied him the access to watch a […]

  • Guest Blogger

Dupin v. France: the ECtHR going old school in its appraisal of inclusive education?

February 11, 2019

By Johan Lievens (VU Amsterdam) and Marie Spinoy (Leuven Centre for Public Law, KULeuven) In Dupin v. France the European Court of Human Rights saw itself confronted with one of the key conflicts in education law: when parents and state officials disagree on which educational trajectory is best for a child with a disability, who […]

  • Guest Blogger

Loneliness that is good for you: the European Court addresses the right to marry of people with disabilities

December 03, 2018

By Constantin Cojocariu, human rights lawyer specialised in disability and transgender rights On 25 October 2018, the European Court of Human Rights issued its first substantive ruling under Article 12 regarding people placed under guardianship.[i] Delecolle v. France involved an elderly man who was not allowed to marry a long-time friend under the pretext that […]

  • Guest Blogger

Disability and University (pragmatic) Activism: the pros and cons of Enver Şahin v Turkey

March 09, 2018

By Joseph Damamme, PhD candidate at the Centre of European Law of the Université libre de Bruxelles, member of the Equality Law Clinic & Advisor to Counsel (Constantin Cojocariu) in the case of Gherghina v Romania. Economic and time constraints are often used as a justification for refusing or delaying necessary changes to the environment […]

  • Guest Blogger

A.M.V. v. Finland: Independent Living, a Bridge Too Far for the European Court of Human Rights

May 10, 2017

By Constantin Cojocariu, human rights lawyer specialised in disability and transgender rights The recently adopted judgment in the case A.-M.V. v. Finland on the right of an intellectually disabled man to decide where and with whom to live makes for a fascinating, although frustrating reading. This is a timely reminder of the considerable challenges remaining […]

  • Guest Blogger

V.M. and others v. Belgium: The tragic story of yet another “disappeared case”

January 18, 2017

Guest post by Moritz Baumgärtel, lecturer and researcher at the Department of European and International Public Law at Tilburg University. Moritz recently defended his PhD at the Université libre de Bruxelles. His project was a part of the IAP research network “The Global Challenge of Human Rights Integration: Towards a Users’ Perspective”. On 17 November […]

  • Guest Blogger

Guberina and Gherghina: the two sides of the Court’s disability jurisprudence

May 17, 2016

This guest post was written by Constantin Cojocariu, human rights lawyer specialised in disability and transgender rights, who acted as the applicants’ representative in both cases reviewed in this article. The Court’s disability jurisprudence generally concerns the management of compulsion in institutional settings, including with respect to detention/institutionalisation, forced medical treatment or restraint or incapacitation. […]

  • Corina Heri

Silence as Acquiescence: On the Need to Address Disability Stereotyping in Kocherov and Sergeyeva v. Russia

May 12, 2016

By Corina Heri, PhD candidate at the University of Zürich / Visiting Scholar at Ghent University In Kocherov and Sergeyeva v. Russia, a Chamber judgment issued on 29 March 2016, the ECtHR held that the restriction of a mentally disabled father’s parental authority had violated his rights under Article 8 ECHR (the right to respect […]

  • Guest Blogger

Disability discrimination because of denial of “reasonable accommodations”: a very positive connection between the ECHR and the UNCRPD in Çam v. Turkey

April 01, 2016

This guest post was written by Joseph Damamme, PhD student at the Centre of European Law of the Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and member of the Equality Law Clinic. The Strasbourg Court recently delivered a significant judgment on the inclusion of students with disabilities in the field of (non-compulsory) education. Çam v. Turkey (ruling […]

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