Strasbourg Observers

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  • Guest Blogger

Neighbourly Murders* , Forced Forgetting and European Justice – Marguš v Croatia

June 30, 2014

This guest post was written by Carole Lyons, Law School, RGU, Scotland On 27 May 2014, a Grand Chamber of the ECtHR, in Margus v Croatia, pronounced upon the contentious issue of the use of amnesties in post-conflict settings. The case concerned a Croatian army commander who had been convicted of several murders of civilians […]

  • Weichie

Fernández Martínez v. Spain: The Grand Chamber Putting the Brakes on the ‘Ministerial Exception’ for Europe?

June 23, 2014

Recently, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered its eagerly awaited judgment in Fernández Martínez v. Spain. The case concerned the refusal to renew the contract of a teacher of Catholic religion and ethics in a public secondary school, because he had allegedly caused a “scandal” when his situation of ‘married […]

  • Laurens Lavrysen

Education in prison: right to education only protects access in case of ‘existing’ educational facilities (Velyo Velev v. Bulgaria)

June 13, 2014

In Velyo Velev v. Bulgaria, the Court found a violation of the right to education (Article 2 Protocol 1) in a case concerning the refusal to allow a prisoner to enrol in a secondary school operating inside the prison. While the judgment should be hailed for explicitly affirming that remand prisoners also enjoy the right […]

  • Guest Blogger

McDonald v. the United Kingdom: A step forward in addressing the needs of persons with disabilities through Article 8 ECHR

June 04, 2014

This guest post was written by Marijke De Pauw, Ph.D. Researcher at the Fundamental Rights and Constitutionalism Research Group (FRC) of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Her research is part of the research network “The Global Challenge of Human Rights Integration: Towards a Users’ Perspective” (HRI) and concerns the fundamental rights of older persons. In McDonald v. […]

  • Guest Blogger

Stensholt v. Norway: Why single judge decisions undermine the Court’s legitimacy

May 28, 2014

This guest post was written by Helena De Vylder. Helena is a Ph.D. Researcher at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University. Her research concerns admissibility criteria in regional human rights systems. Apart from the new admissibility requirement – significant disadvantage –, the 14th Protocol contains a number of procedural changes. The competences of chambers […]

  • Guest Blogger

German Court Injunction Banning Political Leaflet Violated Article 10: Brosa v. Germany

May 21, 2014

This guest post was written by Ronan Ó Fathaigh* and Dirk Voorhoof** In a victory for free expression, the European Court has ruled that a court-imposed injunction banning a political activist from distributing leaflets targeting a political candidate violated Article 10 of the European Convention. The Court in Brosa v. Germany criticised the German courts […]

  • Guest Blogger

A missed opportunity: how the Court’s judgment is commendable for seeking to protect religious minorities but nevertheless wide of the mark

May 19, 2014

This guest post was written by Lieselot Verdonck. Lieselot is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Human Rights Centre, Faculty of Law of Ghent University. More information on the author can be found here. The relationship between State and Church has always drawn much interest. It constitutes an inherently sensitive and political issue, which touches upon […]

  • Laurens Lavrysen

Strasbourg Court fails to adequately protect trade union freedom: secondary strike action only considered to be an ‘accessory’ aspect of Article 11 (R.M.T. v. UK)

May 12, 2014

According to the Strasbourg Court’s established case law, the right to strike action is protected by Article 11 ECHR (e.g. Enerji Yapi-Yol Sen v. Turkey), which more generally protects the right of trade unions to strive for the protection of their members’ interests (e.g. Demir and Baykara v. Turkey). In the recent case of R.M.T. […]

  • Maris Burbergs

Financial considerations in an expulsion case?

May 08, 2014

In Palanci v. Switzerland – an expulsion case – the Court held against the applicant his unsuccessful business efforts and the time that authorities needed to process his asylum and residence permit applications.

  • Guest Blogger

If you can’t stand the heat, don’t turn up the oven: Strasbourg Court expands tolerance for criticism of xenophobia to criticism of homophobia

May 05, 2014

This post was written by Sander Steendam, Ph.D. Researcher at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University. Sander works on the IAP project ‘The Global Challenge of Human Rights Integration: Towards a Users’ Perspective’. In his research, Sander focuses on LGBT rights. On the 17th of April 2014, the European Court of Human Rights issued a […]

  • Guest Blogger

Lawyer-client confidentiality at risk following Strasbourg’s decision in Öcalan v. Turkey

April 24, 2014

This guest post was written by Daniel Machover, Charles Kuhn and Christopher Honnery, respectively Head of the Civil Litigation Department, In-house Criminal and Regulatory Barrister, and Legal Researcher at Hickman and Rose.   The European Court of Human Rights’ (“ECtHR”) Chamber judgment in the case of Öcalan v. Turkey (No. 2) does nothing to further […]

  • Guest Blogger

Biao: Danish family reunification policy does not violate the prohibition of discrimination

April 18, 2014

This post was written by Nadia Ismaili, Ph.D. researcher at the migration law section of the Free University Amsterdam (*) On 25 March 2014 the second chamber of the European Court of Human Rights handed down its judgment in the case of Biao v. Denmark. The case concerned the refusal to grant family reunion in […]

  • Guest Blogger

Vuckovic and others v. Serbia: is the Court getting stricter on the requirement to invoke the substance of the complaint domestically?

April 10, 2014

This guest post was written by Helena De Vylder. Helena is a Ph.D. Researcher at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University. Her research concerns admissibility criteria in regional human rights systems. On 25 March the Grand Chamber delivered its judgment in Vuckovic and others v. Serbia. The case was initiated by 30 reservists in […]

  • Guest Blogger

Finnish journalist’s arrest, detention, prosecution and conviction for disobeying a police order during a demonstration does not violate Article 10

March 24, 2014

This guest post was written by Dirk Voorhoof*. In the case of Pentikäinen v. Finland the European Court found that a Finnish press photographer’s conviction for disobeying the police while covering a demonstration did not breach his freedom of expression. Both the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the International Press Institute (IPI) have criticised […]

  • Guest Blogger

Abdu v. Bulgaria – Yet another case of racist violence before the Court!

March 20, 2014

This guest post was written by Mathias Möschel, post-doctoral researcher at Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense. (*) Abdu v. Bulgaria deals with a fact pattern which the Court has seen many times over the past fifteen years: racist violence. Moreover, it involves a country which has also stood a number of times before the […]

  • Weichie

Poll: Best and Worst ECtHR Judgment of 2013 – The Winners!

March 18, 2014

Now that a little over a month has passed since the opening of the polls and over 250 votes have been cast, it is time to announce the winners – and ‘winners’ – in the categories of best and worst ECtHR judgment of 2013! In the category of best judgment, celebrating the best the ECtHR […]

  • Guest Blogger

The State’s Duty to Protect Children from Abuse: Justice in Strasbourg in O’Keeffe v. Ireland

March 13, 2014

This guest post was written by Professor Ursula Kilkelly. Professor Kilkelly is Director of the Child Law Clinic at the Faculty of Law of University College Cork, Ireland (see more info below the post, at *). On 28 January 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights handed down its judgment in […]

  • Guest Blogger

And the question still remains: when is it allowed to use tear gas or pepper spray?

March 04, 2014

This post was written by Sophie Forrez. Sophie is a Ph.D. Researcher at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University. She works on a project on the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights in the Belgian legal order in the early years of the Convention. In two recent cases, Tali v. Estonia and […]

  • Lourdes Peroni

Vulnerability and Economic Abuse in Domestic Violence Reasoning: T.M. and C.M. v. Moldova

February 26, 2014

T.M. and C.M. v. Moldova is one of the latest instances of domestic authorities’ passivity in protecting women against domestic violence. At the root of this passivity was a failure to understand the seriousness and extent of the problem and its discriminatory effect on women. This was reflected in misconceptions about both the nature of […]

  • Guest Blogger

Nel nome del padre (in the name of the father): the Court on the transmission of the father’s surname (Cusan and Fazzo v. Italy)

February 18, 2014

This guest post was written by Yaiza Janssens, PhD researcher and teaching/research assistant at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University. Yaiza works on a project on the regulation of sexism in Belgian Law. Cusan and Fazzo v. Italy concerned a challenge to transmission of the father’s surname to his children. The applicants in this […]

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