European Court of Human Rights

European Court President Spano’s Visit to Turkey and Its Repercussions

Strasbourg Observers European Court of Human Rights

By Hakan Kaplankaya (Former Turkish diplomat, jurist, INSTITUDE member)

Robert Spano, President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), paid an official visit to Turkey upon the invitation of the Turkish Minister of Justice between 3-5 September 2020. He was accompanied by Saadet Yüksel, national Judge of Turkey and Hasan Bakırcı, Deputy Section Registrar at the Court. In respect to the events and meetings held during this visit, Spano and the Strasbourg Court have been harshly criticized for undermining its independence, neutrality and ethical rules. Thus, it would not be wrong to stress that the reputation of the young and ambitious President of the Court has been considerably damaged at an early stage of his tenure.

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Osmanoğlu and Kocabaş v. Switzerland: A Swiss perspective

Guest Blogger European Court of Human Rights, Freedom of Religion, Osmanoğlu and Kocabaş v. Switzerland, Prohibition of Discrimination, Uncategorized

By Fabienne Bretscher, PhD Student at the University of Zurich, Visiting Researcher at the Erasmus School of Law Rotterdam

In a recent judgment, the ECtHR found that the refusal to grant Muslim students exemption from mandatory swimming classes in Swiss public schools did not amount to a violation of the right to freedom of religion guaranteed by Article 9 ECHR. In its decision, the ECtHR emphasised the important role of public schools in the process of social integration into local customs and way of life. After giving an overview of the facts of the case as well as the ECtHR’s judgment, the present post sheds some light on the background of the issue of Muslim students’ participation in mandatory swimming classes in Switzerland and argues that, with its decision, the ECtHR is (again) reinforcing and legitimising intolerance against Muslims. Continue reading →

European Court of Justice keeps the door to religious discrimination in the private workplace opened. The European Court of Human Rights could close it.

Saïla Ouald Chaib Business and human rights, Case C-157/15 (CJEU), Case C-188/15 (CJEU), European Court of Human Rights, Eweida and Others v. the United Kingdom, Freedom of Religion, Prohibition of Discrimination, Uncategorized

By Saïla Ouald-Chaib and Valeska David

On 14 March 2017, the European Court of Justice issued two judgments, in the cases of Achbita and Bougnaoui concerning the manifestation of beliefs in the private workplace. From the perspective of inclusion and human rights law, the judgments are very disappointing. They basically legitimize and even provide a recipe for discrimination of employees on the basis of their religious or other convictions. Continue reading →

New Publication on Migration and Human Rights: The Strasbourg and San Jose Courts

Lourdes Peroni European Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Migration

I am happy to share with the readers the recent publication of my chapter “On the Road to Substantive Equality: Due Process and Non-discrimination at San José,” written for the book When Humans Become Migrants: Study of the European Court of Human Rights with an Inter-American Counterpoint, by Marie-Bénédicte Dembour (Oxford University Press 2015). Continue reading →