Thursday 13 December 2012

New Book on Diversity and the ECHR

Professor Eva Brems of Ghent University, who leads one of the largest current ECHR-research projects in Europe with a very talented 'crew' of researchers, has compiled a book on diversity issues within the jurisprudence of the European Court. The approach of the book is original and innovative, as the contributors were asked to focus on one specific judgment of the Court and to make suggestions for a rewriting of that judgment. It is entitled 'Diversity and European Human Rights. Rewriting Judgments of the ECHR' and was published by Cambridge University Press. This is the abstract:

Through redrafting the judgments of the ECHR, Diversity and European Human Rights demonstrates how the court could improve the mainstreaming of diversity in its judgments. Eighteen judgments are considered and rewritten to reflect the concerns of women, children, LGB persons, ethnic and religious minorities and persons with disabilities in turn. Each redrafted judgment is accompanied by a paper outlining the theoretical concepts and frameworks that guided the approaches of the authors and explaining how each amendment to the original text is an improvement. Simultaneously, the authors demonstrate how difficult it can be to translate ideas into judgments, whilst also providing examples of what those ideas would look like in judicial language. By rewriting actual judicial decisions in a wide range of topics this book offers a broad overview of diversity issues in the jurisprudence of the ECHR and aims to bridge the gap between academic analysis and judicial practice.
And this is the table of contents:

Introduction Eva Brems; Part I. Children: 1. Rewriting V v. the United Kingdom: building on a groundbreaking standard Ursula Kilkelly; 2. Images of children in education: a critical reading of D. H. and Others v. The Czech Republic Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark; 3. Mainstreaming children's rights in migration litigation: Muskhadzhiyeva and Others v. Belgium Wouter Vandenhole and Julie Ryngaert; Part II. Gender: 4. Redrafting abortion rights under the Convention: A, B and C v. Ireland Patricia Londono; 5. A noble cause: a case study of discrimination, symbols and reciprocity Yofi Tirosh; 6. From inclusion to transformation: rewriting Konstantin Markin v. Russia Alexandra Timmer; Part III. Religious Minorities: 7. Rethinking Deschomets v. France: reinforcing the protection of religious liberty through personal autonomy in custody disputes Renata Uitz; 8. Mainstreaming religious diversity in a secular and egalitarian state: the road(s) not taken in Leyla Sahin v. Turkey Pierre Bosset; 9. Suku Phull v. France rewritten from a procedural justice perspective: taking religious minorities seriously Saïla Ouald Chaib; Part IV. Sexual Minorities: 10. Rewriting Schalk and Kopf: shifting the locus of deference Holning S. Lau; 11. The burden of conjugality Aeyal Gross; 12. The public faces of privacy: rewriting Lustig-Prean and Beckett v. the United Kingdom Michael Kavey; Part V. Disability: 13. Unravelling the knot: Article 8, private life, positive duties and disability: rewriting Sentges v. The Netherlands Lisa Waddington; 14. Re-thinking Herczegfalvy: the Convention and the control of psychiatric treatment Peter Bartlett; 15. Rewriting Kolanis v. the United Kingdom: the right to community integration Maris Burbergs; Part VI. Cultural Minorities: 16. Minority marriage and discrimination: redrafting Muñoz Díaz v. Spain Eduardo J. Ruiz Vieytez; 17. Chapman redux: the European Court of Human Rights and Roma traditional lifestyle Julie Ringelheim; 18. Erasing Q, W and X, erasing cultural difference Lourdes Peroni.
Congratulations, Eva!