Seminar 1: Domestic Abuse and Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights 

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued its first judgment in a case involving domestic abuse in June 2021 in Kurt v Austria (app. no. 62903/15).  In its judgment, the Grand Chamber set out in detail a number of principles which should henceforth be applied when addressing the positive obligations of states as regards the right to life, found in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in the context of domestic abuse.  This presentation seeks to analyse the Grand Chamber’s judgment and the extent to which it has impacted on the approach of the European Court of Human Rights in subsequent domestic abuse cases involving alleged violations of Article 2.  It seems from the judgments that have since been issued that henceforth the principles set out by the Grand Chamber will generally be followed closely in domestic abuse cases involving Article 2, thus leading potentially to a more uniform approach being taken by the Court in its consideration of such cases.  Also, the application of these principles could lead to the Court finding violations in circumstances in which it would not have done so previously, as may have been the case in Y and Others v Bulgaria (app. no. 9077/18, judgment of 22 March 2022).

 

Dr. Ronagh McQuigg is a Reader in the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast.  Her research focuses in particular on domestic abuse as a human rights issue.  She has published four sole-authored books, the most recent being Criminal Justice Responses to Domestic Abuse in Northern Ireland (2022, Routledge), as well as various journal articles and chapters in edited books.  She teaches in the areas of Family Law and Land Law.