Thursday 2 September 2010

More ECHR Literature

The Court is restarting its public activities this week after a summer break, with a hearing yesterday and the issuing of its first post-summer judgments later today. A good moment to give the reader an overview of a range of new ECHR-related literature:

The latest issue of the Heidelberg Journal of International Law (Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, vol. 70-1, 2010) is out and it includes two articles on the ECHR (in German):

* Mathias Hong, 'Hassrede und extremistische Meinungsäußerungen in der Rechtsprechung des EGMR und nach dem Wunsiedel–Beschluss des BVerfG' (on hate speech and extreme forms of freedom of expression)
* Cornelia Janik, 'Die EMRK und internationale Organisationen – Ausdehnung und Restriktion der equivalent protection–Formel in der neuen Rechtsprechung des EGMR' (on the ECHR and international organisations)

The latest issue of the European Human Rights Law Review (issue 4 of 2010) is out, which includes an article giving an overview of the procedure for electing judges at the Court:

* Andrew Drzemczewski, 'Election of Judges at the Strasbourg Court: An Overview', (pp. 377-383)

A French version of this article will appear in the journal 'L'Europe des Libertés' (of Strasbourg University) this Fall.

Routledge has published a Liber Amicorum for the great scholar and human rights expert Kevin Boyle, entitled 'Strategic Visions for human rights: Essays in Honour of Professor Kevin Boyle' which includes:

* Françoise Hampson, 'The Future of the European Court of Human Rights'

Finally, a new book is out on the challenges facing the application of the ECHR in Russia.

* Anton Burkov, 'Convention for the Protection of Human Rights in Russian Courts' (Moscow: Wolters Kluwer 2010).

The book is in Russian, but an English book chapter with the core arguments will appear later this year as: Anton Burkov, 'The European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Russian Legal System', in: The European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Central and Eastern Europe (Eleven International Publishing). Here are parts of the abstract:

Through analysis of hundreds of interviews and judgments on the domestic use of the Convention in Russian courts, the author explores reasons for poor application of international law in Russia.

Despite the fact that the Russian constitution recognizes the domestic status of the Convention, a status that is indeed higher than that of any federal law and which commands that the Convention be applied if there is a conflict between the Convention and a national law, jurists continue to face tremendous barriers. Their efforts to obtain the recognition and the application by national courts of the norms of the Convention as well as the case-law of the ECHR are being undermined by a number of obstacles which are explicitly demonstrated by the author, as well as good examples of the Convention application by the Russian court. This book also clearly explores the specific instruments of the Russian legal system that permit the domestic application of the Convention as well as putting forward practical solutions to those obstacles. Offered as guidelines, those solutions can benefit the work of all judicial professionals and help protect the fundamental rights and freedom of Russian citizens at the national level.
Thanks to all for keeping me (and us all) updated of these and other ECHR-related literature and developments!