Call for Papers: International Cooperation under the European Convention on Human Rights

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "International Cooperation under the European Convention on Human Rights. Sources, Limits, and Enforceability of State Obligations," to be held on October 15-16, 2026, at the University of Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice. The call is here.

Call for Papers: Absolute Rights under the ECHR at State Borders

A call for papers has been issued for a workshop on "Absolute Rights under the ECHR at State Borders," to take place November 9-10, 2026, in Nuremberg. The call is here.

Istrefi, Ratniece, & Kamber: The Companion to the European Convention on Human Rights

Kushtrim Istrefi (Utrecht Univ.), Zane Ratniece (Eurojust), & Kresimir Kamber (Council of Europe) have published The Companion to the European Convention on Human Rights (Brill | Nijhoff 2025). Here is the abstract:

Over time the corpus of rights and obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights has developed into and is perhaps best understood as a system of autonomous concepts, with the European Court of Human Rights acting as its master of conceptualisation. The Companion to the European Convention on Human Rights seeks to identify and explain what these concepts are, how they have evolved, and how they have been applied by the Court. The Companion presents the first compilation and analysis of nearly 300 ECHR notions on Convention rights, principles, procedures and institutions written by 89 authors, including current and former judges of the European Court of Human Rights, scholars and practitioners working on the Convention system.

Hommes: The Convention and the Kingdom: How the Netherlands Received the European Convention on Human Rights

Wiebe Hommes (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) has published The Convention and the Kingdom: How the Netherlands Received the European Convention on Human Rights (Cambridge Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

How and why did the European Convention turn from a neglected legal tool into one of the most important human rights documents in legal practice? This book argues this remarkable development wasn't merely the result of a top-down movement initiated by the European Court, but of a far more dynamic process in which the national and European spheres engaged in constant co-creation. Focusing on the Netherlands and uncovering little known archival sources, it lays bare how the Convention was received over time throughout the entire Kingdom. In doing so, it incorporates insight into how European human rights were perceived in Europe and beyond. A much more varied story comes to light in which contingency and interaction take centre stage, and which uncovers the choices that continue to shape the character of the Convention as we know it today.

Conference: Uno strumento vivente: l’impatto della CEDU sull’ordinamento italiano a 75 anni dalla sua adozione

On November 14, 2025, the University of Siena will host a conference on ""Uno strumento vivente: l’impatto della CEDU sull’ordinamento italiano a 75 anni dalla sua adozione." Details are here.

Feihle: An International Human Rights Law of Cooperation: International Cooperation, State Responsibility and the European Convention on Human Rights

Prisca Feihle has published An International Human Rights Law of Cooperation: International Cooperation, State Responsibility and the European Convention on Human Rights (Edward Elgar Publishing 2025). This is the latest volume in the Elgar International Law series. Here's the abstract:

This incisive book examines how states bear responsibility for human rights protection when they cooperate. Focusing on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), it explores the challenges of international cooperation to international human rights law and uncovers how, nonetheless, human rights provisions may turn into an international human rights law of cooperation and regulate inter-state interaction.

Prisca Feihle discusses the meaning of international cooperation to human rights law, engaging in detailed analysis of case-law to illustrate how the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) addresses cooperation between states in a range of areas including migration policies, surveillance measures or criminal investigations. Developing a comprehensive framework for states’ human rights responsibilities in international cooperation, she puts forward insightful recommendations on what human rights law under the ECHR demands of states beyond these specific subject matters. Suggestions concern the ECHR’s interactions with the law of international responsibility, interpretational method and the scope of application and content of human rights provisions in relation to inter-state interaction affecting individuals.

Workshop: EU Accession to the ECHR: Procedural Hurdles and Prospects Before the ECtHR

On May 15-16, 2025, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's Faculty of Law and the University of Liverpool's School of Law and Social Justice will co-host a workshop on "EU Accession to the ECHR: Procedural Hurdles and Prospects Before the ECtHR," in Thessaloniki, with the first day held in a hybrid format. Details are here.

Call for Papers: The Role of the Causal Inquiry for Finding Breaches of Human Rights Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights

A call for papers has been issued for a workshop on "The Role of the Causal Inquiry for Finding Breaches of Human Rights Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights," to take place June 5-6, 2025, at the Lund University Faculty of Law. Details are here.

Yildiz: Between Forbearance and Audacity: The European Court of Human Rights and the Norm against Torture

Ezgi Yildiz (California State Univ., Long Beach - Political Science) has published Between Forbearance and Audacity: The European Court of Human Rights and the Norm against Torture (Cambridge Univ. Press 2023). This book is available open access. Here's the abstract:

When international courts are given sweeping powers, why would they ever refuse to use them? The book explains how and when courts employ strategies for institutional survival and resilience: forbearance and audacity, which help them adjust their sovereignty costs to pre-empt and mitigate backlash and political pushback. By systematically analysing almost 2,300 judgements from the European Court of Human Rights from 1967–2016, Ezgi Yildiz traces how these strategies shaped the norm against torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. With expert interviews and a nuanced combination of social science and legal methods, Yildiz innovatively demonstrates what the norm entails, and when and how its contents changed over time. Exploring issues central to public international law and international relations, this interdisciplinary study makes a timely intervention in the debate on international courts, international norms, and legal change.

Stoyanova: Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights: Within and Beyond Boundaries

Vladislava Stoyanova (Lund Univ. - Law) has published Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights: Within and Beyond Boundaries (Oxford Univ. Press 2023). This book is available open access. Here's the abstract:

It is beyond question that States have positive obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to prevent and address harm and risks of harm. However, given the difficulties of determining and delimiting the role of the State, the conditions under which positive obligations may apply can be unclear. The search for balance between intrusion and restraint by the State—between protection and freedom from interference—further complicates the question of state responsibility for breach of positive obligations.

Vladislava Stoyanova directly addresses these challenges in Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. By systematising the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the book provides key insights into the elements crucial for ascertaining state responsibility for omissions - state knowledge, causation, and reasonableness. It outlines different kinds of positive human rights obligations and identifies the circumstances under which they can be breached.

Stoyanova reflects upon what is at stake for political communities when the triggering, content, and scope of positive obligations has been determined. She offers serious evaluation of the dangers of ECHR obligations whose scope might be too expansive or intrusive, as well as the conceptual hurdles of applying positive human rights obligations extraterritorially.

Conference: EU Accession to the ECHR: “If at first you don’t succeed . . .”

On July 14, 2023, Liverpool Law School will host a conference, in the hybrid format, on "EU Accession to the ECHR: 'If at first you don’t succeed . . .'" Details are here.

Villiger: Handbook on the European Convention on Human Rights

Mark E. Villiger (formerly, Judge, European Court of Human Rights) has published Handbook on the European Convention on Human Rights (Brill | Nijhoff 2023). Here's the abstract:

In clear and concise words, this Handbook offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the European Convention and the European Court of Human Rights and its case-law. Numerous cross-references guide the reader through the various topics. Various summaries condense the different principles of the Court’s case-law.

Deftou: Exporting the European Convention on Human Rights

Maria Louiza Deftou (National and Kapodistrian Univ. of Athens) has published Exporting the European Convention on Human Rights (Hart Publishing 2022). Here's the abstract:

This book explores how the European Convention on Human Rights operates and influences on the global stage.

The ECHR and its interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) considerably echo in and outside Europe. To what degree has that influence translated into its norms, doctrines and methods of interpretation being exported into equivalent systems which also enact the protection of fundamental rights? This book answers that question by exploring the judicial dialogue of the ECHR system with comparable legal orders.

Through a horizontal and multifaceted study of regional and global systems, the book identifies the impact of the ECHR within the confines of their jurisprudence to provide scholars in the field of international human rights law with an essential text. Discussing the extent to which the ECHR penetrates into the judicial production of the most affected legal systems, the book mostly focuses on the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee. It also investigates whether there is room for cross-fertilisation between them and finally, moves on to explore the legal consequences of the interplay of these mechanisms with the ECtHR and what it means for the overall functioning of international human rights law.

Reiertsen: Effective Domestic Remedies and the European Court of Human Rights: Applications of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 13

Michael Reiertsen has published Effective Domestic Remedies and the European Court of Human Rights: Applications of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 13 (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

In Malone v. UK (Plenary 1984), the right to an effective domestic remedy in the European Convention on Human Rights Article 13 was famously described as one of the most obscure clauses in the Convention. Since then, the European Court of Human Rights has reinforced the scope and application of the right. Through an analysis of virtually all of the Court's judgments concerning Article 13, the book exhaustively accounts for the development and current scope and content of the right. The book also provides normative recommendations on how the Court could further develop the right, most notably how it could be a tool to regulate the relationship between domestic and international protection of human rights. In doing so, the book situates itself within larger debates on the enforcement of the entire Convention such as the principle of subsidiarity and the procedural turn in the Court's case law.

Schiedermair, Schwarz, & Steiger: Theory and Practice of the European Convention on Human Rights

Stephanie Schiedermair, Alexander Schwarz, & Dominik Steiger have published Theory and Practice of the European Convention on Human Rights (Nomos 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This edited book brings you a collection of current, critical issues regarding the theory and practice of the European Court of Human Rights. The book is divided into three parts: procedural concerns, principles and jurisprudence, and interaction with national legal systems.

Seminar: Stoyanova on "Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights - Within and Beyond Boundaries"

On March 10, 2022, Liverpool Law School will host a seminar by Vladislava Stoyanova (Lund Univ. - Law) on "Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights - Within and Beyond Boundaries." Details are here.

Heri: Responsive Human Rights: Vulnerability, Ill-treatment and the ECtHR

Corina Heri (Univ. of Zurich) has published Responsive Human Rights: Vulnerability, Ill-treatment and the ECtHR (Hart Publishing 2021). Here's the abstract:

Who is a vulnerable person in human rights law? This important book assesses the treatment of vulnerability by the European Court of Human Rights, an area that has been surprisingly under explored by European human rights law to date. It explores legal-philosophical understandings of the topic, providing a theoretical framework that can be used when examining the question. Not confining itself to the abstract, however, it provides a bridge from the theoretical to the practical by undertaking a comprehensive examination of the Court's approach under art. 3 ECHR. It also pays particular attention to the concept of human dignity.

Blay-Grabarczyk & Milano: Les soixante-dix ans de l’adoption de la convention européenne des droits de l’homme : Enjeux et perspectives

Katarzyna Blay-Grabarczyk & Laure Milano have published Les soixante-dix ans de l’adoption de la convention européenne des droits de l’homme : Enjeux et perspectives (Pedone 2021). The table of contents is here.

Paiusco: Nullum Crimen Sine Lege, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Foreseeability of the Law

Sara Paiusco has published Nullum Crimen Sine Lege, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Foreseeability of the Law (Nomos 2021). Here's the abstract:

This book investigates nullum crimen sine lege as European principle in its interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights. The research focuses on the role of foreseeability as a solution to the legality issues raising from judge-made law in criminal law. The rationale and application of foreseeability in ECtHR case-law are scrutinised, trying to extract its main development paths. Current solutions adopted by civil law States (Italy and Germany) are analysed also considering the theoretical foundations of ncsl. Moreover, the role of foreseeability in EU law is considered, as an example of an effectiveness-oriented legal order. In the end, future perspectives for the implementation of the principle of foreseeability are analysed.

Helfer & Ryan: LGBT Rights as Mega-politics: Litigating before the ECtHR

Laurence R. Helfer (Duke Univ. - Law; Univ. of Copenhagen - iCourts) & Clare Ryan (Louisiana State Univ. - Law) have posted LGBT Rights as Mega-politics: Litigating before the ECtHR (Law and Contemporary Problems, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Contestations over LGBT rights are now occurring worldwide at multiple levels of governance. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or Strasbourg Court) has become a focal point for these contestations. This article, part of a symposium in Law and Contemporary Problems on International Courts and the Adjudication of Mega-Politics, analyzes the increase in LGBT rights cases before the ECtHR. We argue that two divergent forces are pushing these cases to Strasbourg. First, the Court has dynamically interpreted the European Convention on Human Rights to expand protections for gay men and lesbians by taking account of progressive trends in national laws and policies. Second, the ECtHR has received numerous complaints against Russia, Eastern European, and former Soviet states that routinely violate the bodily integrity and political rights of sexual minorities.

To understand these trends, we coded all ECtHR lesbian and gay rights cases. We divide the case law into three periods—1950 to 1998, 1999 to 2009, and 2010 to 2020—that mark the Court’s evolving approach to these rights. We identify the number of cases in each period, describe important doctrinal trends, and discuss watershed cases that mark shifts in ECtHR jurisprudence. We then pose three questions to investigate the explosion of LGBT legal issues before the ECtHR over the last decade: Why the increase? Why Strasbourg? And why LGBT rights? We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for the ECtHR as a forum for mega-political contestation.