The first issue of the year of the ECHR Law Review has just been published (Vol. 5, Issue 1). This time it is a special issue entitled 'The ‘Special’ Relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Convention of Human Rights'. The special issue focuses specifically on the question of what the consequences would be if the UK decides to withdraw from the ECHR. The issue contains one editorial note and nine research articles. This is the table of contents: * Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, 'The United Kingdom and the European Convention on Human Rights: Together Until the End ..read more

Andrew Forde (Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway) has just published a new book with Cambridge University Press entitled European Human Rights Grey Zones: The Council of Europe and Areas of Conflict. The book explores the effectiveness of the Council of Europe's human rights protection mechanism in European areas of conflict. This is the abstract: 'Forde examines the effectiveness of the human rights system of the Council of Europe (CoE) in conflict-affected regions and advances a novel approach to understanding how the European Convention on Human Rights can better serve the ..read more

Last week, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), elected three new judges to the European Court of Human Rights, in respect of Ireland, Latvia, and Liechtenstein.  In respect of Ireland, Úna Ní Raifeartaigh was elected. She is currently a judge of the Court of Appeal of Ireland as well as being an ad hoc/substitute judge for the European Court of Human Rights. Before these functions, she was a longtime practising barrister, with an emphasis on criminal law. She has also taught at Trinity College Dublin and has a researcher for the Law Reform Commission. She thus h ..read more

A recording of the webinar of 19 April 2024, 'Climate Change in Strasbourg: the recent cases at the European Court of Human Rights', co-organised by this ECHR Blog and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), is now available here for those who missed it or want to watch it again. A big thank you to all participants for their attendance and incisive questions and especially to our three expert speakers: Gerry Liston, Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, and Ole Windahl Pedersen ..read more

On  4 May 2024 Utrecht University's free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the ECHR will start again! Registration is open now. To enroll, please go to the Coursera platform.  The MOOC entitled 'Human Rights for Open Societies - An introduction into the ECHR' is taught by my Utrecht University colleagues professor Antoine Buyse and professor Janneke Gerards. This is the description of our six-week course: 'Human rights are under pressure in many places across the globe. Peaceful protests are violently quashed. Voting is tampered with. And minorities are often excluded from deci ..read more

On Friday 19 April  (15h00 to 16h30 CET), the ECHR Blog and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) are co-organising a special webinar entitled 'Climate Change in Strasbourg: the recent cases at the European Court of Human Rights'.  Last week, we already gave our first impressions when the European Court of Human Rights issued its Grand Chamber decisions and judgment in three keenly awaited climate change cases. Two cases were declared inadmissible, but the Swiss Klimaseniorinnen won their case in two crucial respects: the Court found violations of their r ..read more

By Matilda Radoš* On 17 January 2024, Ireland submitted a new inter-state application (no. 1859/24) against the United Kingdom before the European Court of Human Rights under Article 33 ECHR. The case concerns the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, adopted by the United Kingdom on 18 September 2023. The objective of the act is to deal with the legacy of the violent conflict in Northern Ireland that took place between 1 January 1966 and 10 April 1998, known as ‘the Troubles’, which led to the deaths of over 3600 people and the torture of many others. The act provi ..read more

by Dragoș Călin, Judge and  co-president of the Romanian Judges’ Forum Association     Introduction In the case no.16915/21, Danileţ v. Romania, the European Court of Human Rights held on February 20, 2024, by a majority (four votes to three), that there had been a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the sanction imposed on the judge for Facebook posts concerning matters of public interest infringed his freedom of expression.   The case concerns the limits of freedom of expression in the situation of a judge who, at the time of the fact ..read more

by Antoine Buyse and Kushtrim Istrefi This morning, the European Court of Human Rights issued its Grand Chamber decisions and judgment in three keenly awaited climate change cases. Two cases were declared inadmissible, but the Swiss grandmothers (Klimaseniorinnen) won their case in one crucial respect: the Court found a violation of their right to private life under article 8 ECHR. Although the rejection of most cases and complaints is disappointing, yet was expected, probably much more importantly even is the principled step that the Court has taken to for the first time explicitly acknowle ..read more

..read more