Human Rights

Page 2 of 172

Filter category

Feature post image

The EU boycott of Russian scientists and the right to science in the shadow of Ukraine’s invasion

The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine has brought back the issue of scientific freedom and the protection of scientists developing military technology. The day after the invasion, Germany froze bilateral science partnerships with the Russian Federation. A slew of European countries quickly followed suit, and some restrictions have been expanded to include Belarus. Russia’s participation in Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020, the European Union’s flagship science grant programs, was also suspended—a measure still in place as 2023 begins. Should Russian scientists’ freedom of research be guaranteed in the shadow of the military invasion of Ukraine? Or should Russian scientists be subjected to the sanctions and boycotts targeting the Russian Federation? In this writing, I tackle two questions. The first focuses on whether military science falls within the scope of Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which codifies was has come to be known as the human right to science and the duty “to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.”…

Read more

Milestone or missed opportunity? The ECtHR Grand Chamber judgment in Fedotova v. Russia on the legal recognition of same-sex couples

On the 17th of January 2023, the European Court of Human Rights issued its long-awaited Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Fedotova v. Russia (nos. 40792/10, etc). Although the Court has dealt numerous times with the rights of same-sex couples, this was the first time that the Grand Chamber had to deal with the…

Read more

The European Court’s Admissibility Decision in Ukraine and the Netherlands v Russia: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Part II

In the first part of this post I talked about the (many) good things about the European Court’s admissibility decision in Ukraine and the Netherlands v Russia. In particular, the conclusion that Russia controlled the separatist areas of Eastern Ukraine from 2014 up to the oral hearing in the case in 2022 and…

Read more

The European Court’s Admissibility Decision in Ukraine and the Netherlands v Russia: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Part I

Yesterday the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered its much-anticipated decision on jurisdiction and admissibility in the interstate case of Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia (nos 8019/16, 43800/14 and 28525/20 – decision; press release). The Court declared the applications admissible, in a clear win for the applicant…

Read more

Rescue at Sea and Asylum on Humanitarian Vessels

The recent impasse concerning the disembarkation of nearly 600 migrants rescued in Maltese and Libyan search and rescue (SAR) zones on the Central Mediterranean by NGO vessels (Humanity 1, operated by SOS Humanity, the Ocean Viking, operated by SOS Mediterranée, lately joined by the Geo Barents, operated by Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF), and Rise Above operated by Mission…

Read more