March | 2015 | When humans become migrants

Episode twelve: The optimist says the bottle is half-empty

You may wonder why I keep stressing the weaknesses of the Strasbourg case law rather than choosing to focus on its strengths. [podcast]https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/humanrights/files/2015/03/hrm12_the_optimist_says_the_bottle_is_half-empty-13nggrc.mp3[/podcast] (If you have problems with the embedded player use this link to listen). In a nutshell, this is because I want a strong European Court of Human Rights, a court that is…

Episode eleven: Tamils being returned to civil war

In this episode I look at another landmark human rights case from the late 1980s/early 1990s. [podcast]https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/humanrights/files/2015/03/hrm11_tamils_being_returned_to_civil_war-28deaz6.mp3[/podcast] (If you have problems with the embedded player use this link to listen). Vilvarajah v. the United Kingdom concerned five Tamil young men whose asylum application was rejected and who were returned to the Sri Lankan conflict. Their…

Episode ten: Who was Soering?

How does the European Court on Human Rights respond to applicants who claim they cannot be sent to another country because, once there, they would face inhuman treatment? [podcast]https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/humanrights/files/2015/03/hrm10_who_was_soering-21dhn55.mp3[/podcast] No-one can be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This is inscribed in Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights….

Episode nine: When my father’s family fled their home

What you would you do if you and your loved ones were at risk? [podcast]https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/humanrights/files/2015/03/hrm9_when_my_fathers_family_fled_their_home-2bhlu51.mp3[/podcast] In this episode I recall some of the stories of migration that I grew up with as a child in Belgium. In 1940, my father’s family, which included 10 children, felt they had no choice but to flee their home…

Episode eight: The inconsistent success of migrant human rights cases in the 1990s

In this episode I discuss how the growing success of some migrants at the European Court of Human Rights saw the emergence of a case law “lottery” in the 1990s. [podcast]https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/humanrights/files/2015/03/hrm8_the_inconsistent_success_of_migrant_human_rights_cases_in_the_1990s-1cmz8or.mp3[/podcast] We consider the case of Berrehab about a Moroccan man who was married to a Dutch woman and who lived in the Netherlands. When…