Month: December 2008
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Last Post of 2008
With almost 20,000 pageviews from nearly a 100 countries since its start at the end of May, this weblog has gathered a large group of readers. It is to you all that I would like to extend my thanks, for it is your reactions that
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Article on Impartiality of ECtHR Judges
Professor Eric Voeten of Georgetown University has just published the article ‘The Impartiality of International Judges: Evidence from the European Court of Human Rights’ in the most recent issue (vol. 102, issue 4, 2008) of the American Political Science Review. This is the abstract: Can
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Television Commercials for Political Parties
The regulation of advertising for political parties on television is an issue hotly debated in many countries. In Norway there is a complete ban on such advertising. Thus when a local television station (TV Vest) broadcasted adverts for the Pensioners Party, it was fined. Both
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Systemic Problems of Romanian Restitution
Last week, the Court gave a pilot-like judgment in the case of Viasu v. Romania. The applicant in the case tried in vain to have a compensation order under current Romanian restitution legislation enforced. Viasu’s plot of land had been nationalised in the Communist era,
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Happy Birthday Universal Declaration!
Today it is exactly 60 years ago that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. A reason to celebrate and to emphasize the enduring value and necessity of this document, especially in the face of the
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DNA Retention Struck Down
Last week, om 4 December, the Grand Chamber delivered its judgment S. and Marper v. United Kingdom, a highly anticipated case on the retention of fingerprints and DNA by the British authorities. The complaints centered on the situation of persons who had been suspected of
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Round-up of New Academic ECHR Articles
Just before the weekend, a short round-up of recent ECHR-related articles in academic journals: Specifically on ECHR and health there is an article in the European Journal of Health Law (2008, vol. 15, no. 4):– Testing the margin of appreciation: therapeutic abortion, reproductive ‘rights’ and
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Privacy, Internet, and Children
The protection of privacy is a major problem on the internet. But the situation gets even more complicated when the protection of the privacy of one person negatively affects the privacy of another person. That is exactly what happened in the case of K.U. v.
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Article on Proportionality in ECHR Judgments
Stavros Tsakyrakis of the University of Athens has just posted an online article on the issue of balancing in ECHR judgments, entitled ‘Proportionality: an Assault on Human Rights’, which delivers a biting critique of the current proportionality approach. This is the abstract: Balancing is the