Kushtrim Istrefi

Kushtrim Istrefi

About/Bio

Dr Kushtrim Istrefi is Assistant Professor of Human Rights Law and Public International Law with the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) at Utrecht University. He specializes in human rights law and international security. Dr Istrefi is a member of the editorial board of The European Convention on Human Rights Law Review, and Senior Peace Fellow with Public International Law and Policy Group.

Recently Published

Kovačević v Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the saga of the Dayton Peace Agreement’s incompatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights  

September 4, 2023

In December 2009, the European Court of Human Rights found in Sejdić and Finci that the electoral system in Bosnia and Herzegovina was discriminatory as it did not allow a Jew and a Roma citizen to be elected in the House of Peoples (the second chamber of the State Parliament) or the Presidency. The two citizens were…

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Kosovo is a Country, and a Country Means a State, Rules the Court of Justice of the European Union

January 20, 2023

In September 2020, the General Court of the European Union (GCEU) examined whether the 2019 admission of Kosovo as a ‘third country’ to the EU Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) amounted to recognition by the EU of Kosovo as an independent State. The case was brought by Spain, a non-recogniser of Kosovo,…

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The UK Supreme Court in the Scottish case: revitalising the doctrine of remedial secession

December 14, 2022

On 23 November 2022, the UK Supreme Court issued an important judgment on the question of the Scottish referendum. The judges unanimously ruled that the Scottish government could not pass legislation paving the way for the second referendum without the approval of the UK parliament. The reasoning of the UK Supreme Court is heavily based on the…

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Popular articles by Kushtrim Istrefi

Supervision of Derogations in the Wake of COVID-19: a litmus test for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe

April 6, 2020

The pandemic COVID-19 has triggered a record number of derogations from the European Convention on Human Rights (the ‘ECHR’ or the ‘Convention’). By now, Albania, Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova, North Macedonia and Romania have notified the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (the ‘Secretary General’) of their derogations from the ECHR. More States may…

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Kosovo is a Country, and a Country Means a State, Rules the Court of Justice of the European Union

January 20, 2023

In September 2020, the General Court of the European Union (GCEU) examined whether the 2019 admission of Kosovo as a ‘third country’ to the EU Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) amounted to recognition by the EU of Kosovo as an independent State. The case was brought by Spain, a non-recogniser of Kosovo,…

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The Luxembourg Court Rules on the Difference between States and Countries as International Law Actors

November 27, 2020

On 23 September 2020, the General Court of the European Union (GCEU) in Case T-370-19 Kingdom of Spain v. European Commission rendered a judgment that will surely become an important footnote in any textbook of public international law dealing with treaties and subjects. In this case, the GCEU ruled, among others, on whether certain acts…

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Related Topics

European Convention on Human Rights European Court of Human Rights Human Rights European Court of Justice Kosovo States and Statehood Self-Determination

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