european court of human rights | When humans become migrants

Migrants’ avoidance of the European Court of Human Rights concerns us all

This post was published by the Strasbourg Observers earlier today. I am grateful for their permission to re-publish it here. Every year towards the end of January, the President of the European Court of Human Rights holds a press conference that takes stock of the previous year. This year, President Raimondi reported in his speech…

Episode 30: The right to be humane should be recognised paramount

When Humans Become Migrants ends by asking whether the right to be humane should top any human rights list. The question has lost none of its pertinence since the book was written. It also ends this podcast series.

Episode 29: Let us also think about the Strasbourg procedures

Procedures are very important. Before a court, they can make or break a case. This is as true at the European Court of Human Rights as anywhere else. This podcast highlights three areas of concern in relation to migrant cases. The first concerns provisional orders. The Court can order a defendant state to keep…

Episode 28: The way forward is to expand ECHR guarantees

As we come towards the end of this series, it is important to think about ways to remedy the weaknesses that have been identified. In this podcast, I recommend that the European Court of Human Rights expands its interpretation of especially three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 3 concerns inhuman…

Episode 26: Can a child ever be just a ‘fait accompli’?

Can a woman be expelled to her country of origin when she has a young child who is a national of the would-be expelling European state and her expulsion would mean child and mother are separated? In one famous case, the European Court of Human Rights decided that the mother’s expulsion would violate the…

Episode 25: The stateless of Europe

All through the summer, the immediate needs of the unprecedented number of refugees arriving in Europe has held the media spotlight. We should not forget, however, that long term migrants can also face great difficulties. This episode draws attention to the plight of people who live in Europe without enjoying any status in law. …

Episode 24: Vainly knocking on the shut doors of Strasbourg

When a door is firmly shut, getting it to open can be very difficult. This image is useful to understand the effect of a finding by the European Court of Human Rights that a provision of the European Convention on Human Rights is either not applicable or not violated. [podcast]https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/humanrights/files/2015/07/hrm24_shutting_the_strasbourg_doors-1vsigvm.mp3[/podcast] (If you have problems with…

Episode 22: Why MSS is so important

Episode 21 explained what happened in the case of MSS, but we still need to discuss why the case is so important. [podcast]https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/humanrights/files/2015/06/hrm22_why_mss_is_so_important-27bti8j.mp3[/podcast] (If you have problems with the embedded player use this link to listen). One point is that it triggered a revision of the so-called ‘Dublin regulation’. Another is that migrants often lose…

Episode 21: MSS sees Belgium and Greece condemned

In the sea of Strasbourg losses for migrants, MSS stands out as a resounding victory, which we start exploring in this episode. [podcast]https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/humanrights/files/2015/06/hrm21_being-transferred_from_belgium_to_greece-1x88fk7.mp3[/podcast] (If you have problems with the embedded player use this link to listen). The applicant was an Afghani national who had worked for the Allied forces. Fearing for his life, he left his country….

Episode 20: Tabitha’s story

It would be wrong to think that the European Court of Human Rights is incapable of finding immigration detention in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. For example, when a lone five year old was kept in a detention centre in Belgium for two months, the Court found violation after violation of the…