Europe Team: Publications

The following list includes both publications directly informed by HRLIP research and associated publications by the research team on the topic of implementation.

I. Books

Taking a Case to the European Court of Human Rights

In June 2017 the fourth edition of Professor Philip Leach’s book Taking a Case to the European Court of Human Rights was published by Oxford University Press. It includes sections discussing the nature and specificity of redress stipulated by the European Court of Human Rights, and its developing approach towards systemic human rights violations, through the use of Article 46 judgments and pilot judgments. There is also a section on the enforcement of judgments.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Professor Philip Leach published a chapter entitled ‘The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’ in a book edited by Marten Breuer and Stefanie Schmahl, The Council of Europe – Its Law and Policies (Oxford University Press, 2017). His chapter analyses various aspects of the work of the Parliamentary Assembly, including its role vis-à-vis the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

Parliaments and the European Court of Human Rights

Dr Alice Donald and Professor Philip Leach co-authored Parliaments and the European Court of Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2016) which examines the role of national parliaments in the implementation of judgments of the Court and, consequently, their contribution to enhancing both the effectiveness and legitimacy of the European Convention system. Detailed investigation focuses on five European states with differing records of human rights compliance and parliamentary mobilisation: Ukraine, Romania, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. The book asks: how far are parliaments engaged in implementation, and how far should they be? Do parliaments advance or hinder human rights compliance? Is it ever justifiable for parliaments to defy judgments of the Court? And how significant is the role played by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe? Drawing on the fields of international law, international relations, political science and political philosophy, the book argues that adverse human rights judgments not only confer obligations on parliamentarians but also create opportunities for them to develop influential interpretations of human rights and enhance their own democratic legitimacy.

II. Book chapters

Dr Alice Donald authored a chapter entitled ‘Parliaments as Compliance Partners in the European Convention on Human Rights System in Saul, Føllesdal and Ulfstein (eds), The International Human Rights Judiciary and National Parliaments: Europe and Beyond (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

III. Journal articles

The European Court of Human Rights’ Remedial Practice and its Impact on the Execution of Judgments
Dr Alice Donald and Anne-Katrin Speck have published an article in the Human Rights Law Review entitled ‘The European Court of Human Rights’ Remedial Practice and its Impact on the Execution of Judgments’. This article analyses the developing approach of the Strasbourg Court to the indication of specific non-monetary individual or general remedies and the impact of this practice on the execution of its judgments. It draws on interviews conducted as part of the HRLIP with Judges of the Court and officials in Council of Europe institutions, and a statistical analysis of pilot judgments and judgments that invoke Article 46 of the European Convention of Human Rights issued between 2004 and 2016. The article argues that the Court’s remedial practice is fluid and pragmatic, with differences of perspective between Judges. It discusses the factors that influence judicial decision-making, and examines the implications of the Court’s remedial approach both for its ‘horizontal’ relationship with the Committee of Ministers and its ‘vertical’ relationship with states. It concludes that, from both these perspectives, the door is open to continued evolution, if not revolution, in the Court’s remedial practice.

IV. Reports

Handbook: National parliaments as guarantors of human rights in Europe
Dr Alice Donald and Anne-Katrin Speck were commissioned to prepare, in co-operation with the Secretariat of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), a handbook aimed at raising awareness of the duties and opportunities that exist for parliamentarians within the Council of Europe to protect and realise human rights as part of their commitment to the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The guide on ‘National parliaments as guarantors of human rights in Europe’, published by the Council of Europe (CoE) in October 2018, inter alia highlights parliamentarians’ duty to hold governments to account for inadequate or dilatory implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

V. Blogs

EIN Speech at the 20th Anniversary of the European Court
Philip Leach participated in his capacity as the Europe Implementation Network Vice-Chairman in a seminar held on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the modern Europe Court of Human Rights established in 1998. This event, which was organised by the Finnish Presidency of the Committee of Ministers in cooperation with the court and the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), took place on Monday 26 November 2018 in the Human Rights Building. You can download the text of Philip's intervention here.

The Continuing Utility of International Human Rights Mechanisms

A blog post published by Professor Philip Leach on EJIL: Talk! on 1 November 2017 explores factors impacting on the effectiveness of strategic litigation before international human rights mechanisms in times where the legitimacy of the international human rights judiciary is being called into question, and discusses possible ways to further enhance it.

Judges at odds over Court’s authority to order remedies

In a post from July 2017 published on Strasbourg Observers, Dr Alice Donald and Anne-Katrin Speck debate how far the European Court of Human Rights should recommend, or even require, states to take certain measures after the finding of a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Strasbourg in 2016: figures and case law trends

Anne-Katrin Speck published a summary and brief analysis of the European Court of Human Rights’ annual report 2016 in the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) Bulleting #27, Summer 2017, available here.

Implementing judgments of the European Court: The parliamentary dimension

In an article published in the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) Bulletin #27, Summer 2017, Dr Alice Donald explores the parliamentary dimension of ensuring human rights protection domestically.

‘Principled resistance’ against ECtHR judgments and the usefulness of the infringement procedure

Dr Alice Donald published a post entitled 'Tackling Non-Implementation in the Strasbourg System: The Art of the Possible?' on EJIL: Talk! on 28 April 2017, in which she critically engages with the notion, employed by some scholars, of ‘principled resistance’ against judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

A democratic defence of the European Court of Human Rights

A post published on OUPblog in September 2016 by Dr Alice Donald and Professor Philip Leach, which examines the potential impact of Brexit on the future of human rights in Britain, provides a ‘democratic defence’ of the European Court of Human Rights.

Russia Defies Strasbourg: Is Contagion Spreading?

In a contribution to EJIL: Talk! of December 2015, Professor Philip Leach and Dr Alice Donald reflect on recent challenges to the legitimacy and authority of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) posed by the adoption of a law, by the Russian Federation, which enables the Russian Constitutional Court to declare rulings of international bodies (including the ECtHR) ‘impossible to implement’.

Closing the implementation gap in human rights

Dr Alice Donald presents the Human Rights Law Implementation Project, situating it within the broader academic debate about an apparent ‘implementation crisis’ afflicting the international human rights judiciary, in a post published on Middlesex Minds in October 2015.