Month: April 2026
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New Judgment Implementation Report
With so much attention going to the much debated and upcoming Chișinău Declaration, also on our blog, attention has been less on the ongoing routines of the ECHR system. In that context, the Committee of Ministers recently published its Annual Report on Supervision of the…
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Transnational Bad Faith and Non-Refoulement: Pretending Compliance with ECtHR Interim Measures
Introduction In the early hours of 5 April, Georgia, acting in collaboration with Azerbaijan, violated an interim measure issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in a case pending against Georgia. Despite the interim measures requiring it not to do so, Georgia removed…
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Conference on Revisiting the ECHR
On the 22nd of May 2026, the Human Rights Research Group of the Leuven University’s Centre for Public Law is organizing a conference entitled ‘Revisiting the ECHR: A Closer Look at Calls for Change‘. The impetus for the conference was the by now (in)famous letter…
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A Critical Look at the Implicit Messages in the CDDH Outcome Document with Elements for the Chișinău Declaration
The outcome document ‘containing elements for a political declaration’ that the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) of the Council of Europe published on 20 March 2026 deserves a critical look. Thus, it can be established whether the CDDH managed to take an objective, human…
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The Chișinău Process: Dialogue or Duress?
It has been a testing year for the European Court of Human Rights, from the letter of nine states in May 2025 to the Joint Statement of 27 to the Chișinău process that will culminate in a political declaration on migration on 15 May 2026.…
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A Statement Built on Shaky Ground: Unveiling the Controversial Assumptions in the 27 Countries’ Statement
On December 10, 2025, twenty-seven countries delivered a joint statement to the Council of Europe’s conference of ministers of justice, calling for an “updated interpretation” of the European Convention on Human Rights in light of what the signatories identify as “today’s challenges.” Although addressed to…
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Launch event: “Framing Human Rights: Authoritarianism, Migration, and Climate Change in the Council of Europe”
On Monday, 4 May 2026, an online event on “Framing Human Rights: Authoritarianism, Migration, and Climate Change in the Council of Europe” will be held at the Hertie School’s Centre for Fundamental Rights. This event launches a recent special issue in the International Journal of…
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An Invitation to Interrogate the Longue Durée of European Human Rights and Its Exclusions
10 December 2025, twenty-seven Council of Europe (CoE) member states delivered a joint statement. This statement has launched the so-called “Chișinău process,” which is expected to lead to the adoption of a political declaration on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) with a focus…
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The CDDH’s Chișinău Report, Article 3 and the ‘extra-territorial’ context
The main focus of this post is on the extra‑territorial application of Article 3. I have some sympathy with the CDDH’s calls for caution in that specific area and wish to raise some broader, related issues. However, I feel compelled to frame my comments with…
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Symposium on the Challenges of Chișinău
Since the adoption of the European Convention on Human Rights, the system has been recognized for its continuous and progressive evolution. Through slow but incremental change, over the past decades we have witnessed the adoption of new protocols that grant individuals access to the European…