Stephanos Stavros

Stephanos Stavros is a human-rights lawyer who has worked for the ECtHR and other Strasbourg-based monitoring mechanisms. The views expressed are, of course, personal.

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Climate change in Strasbourg: a big victory for the human-rights agenda through the rigorous application of international human-rights law

Climate change in Strasbourg: a big victory for the human-rights agenda through the rigorous application of international human-rights law

All major challenges facing Europe today have a human-rights dimension, which sooner or later the ECtHR will be invited to examine. The Court, of course, provides legal answers to legal questions. Nevertheless, its decisions are also ...
Examining Racial-Profiling Complaints in the Age of Subsidiarity: Basu v Germany and Muhammad v Spain

Examining Racial-Profiling Complaints in the Age of Subsidiarity: Basu v Germany and Muhammad v Spain

Image Description: Two policemen in uniform standing with their backs to the camera. On 18 October 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’)’s Third Section passed judgment in Basu v Germany (Application no. 215/19) and ...
Minority associations win repeated victories in Strasbourg but will Greece ever comply with the relevant judgments? – Part II

Minority associations win repeated victories in Strasbourg but will Greece ever comply with the relevant judgments? – Part II

Image Description: A picture of the Strasbourg Court These judgments (referred to in Part I of the post) also make clear that the exceptions in Article 11(2) ECHR are fully capable of catering for the legitimate concerns of states ...
Minority associations win repeated victories in Strasbourg but will Greece ever comply with the relevant judgments? – Part I

Minority associations win repeated victories in Strasbourg but will Greece ever comply with the relevant judgments? – Part I

Image Description: A picture of the Strasbourg Court Like any other European state, Greece is home to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. That their members complain – domestically and in Strasbourg – about “the way they ...
Y v. Poland: Trans Rights and Strasbourg’s Search for a Proper Discrimination Theory

Y v. Poland: Trans Rights and Strasbourg’s Search for a Proper Discrimination Theory

Image Description: Seven small Trans rights flags erected on grass. There are flowers growing in the background. On 17.2.22 the ECtHR passed judgment in another trans-rights case, finding that the applicant’s (Y’s) inability to ...
Sanchez and ZB v France: How Many More Restrictions to Freedom of Expression Should Strasbourg Accept?

Sanchez and ZB v France: How Many More Restrictions to Freedom of Expression Should Strasbourg Accept?

Image Description: On a brick wall, the phrase 'Free Speech' is being written by a person, using spray paint. Below this phrase, the words '*Conditions apply' has been written. On 17.1.22, the ECtHR accepted that Sanchez – one of ...
Adbi Ibrahim v Norway: What It Takes to Make People Feel Integrated “Here in Europe” Without Necessarily “Becoming Like Them Norwegian Christians”

Adbi Ibrahim v Norway: What It Takes to Make People Feel Integrated “Here in Europe” Without Necessarily “Becoming Like Them Norwegian Christians”

Image Description: A Norwegian flag flying in the sky. On December 10th, the ECtHR’s GC (Grand Chamber) issued its last 2021 judgment in Adbi Ibrahim, a truly sad case. The applicant, a Muslim Somali refugee, arrived in Norway as a ...
The Polish Challenge to the ECtHR’s Authority: Can the CoE Human-Rights System Respond Convincingly to It?

The Polish Challenge to the ECtHR’s Authority: Can the CoE Human-Rights System Respond Convincingly to It?

That the 24.11.21 judgment of the Polish Constitutional Court (CC) represents a serious challenge to the ECtHR’s authority does not seem to be open to question. The CoE SG has recognised this herself by addressing, on 7.12.21, an ...
Defending legality in judicial appointments: The European Court of Human Rights and the Polish constitutional crisis [Part 2]

Defending legality in judicial appointments: The European Court of Human Rights and the Polish constitutional crisis [Part 2]

This is what happened in Poland. The Supreme Court made a preliminary reference about the appointment of the members of its Disciplinary Chamber (DC). The CJEU considered that there were issues of independence. Then the Supreme Court ...
Defending legality in judicial appointments: The European Court of Human Rights and the Polish constitutional crisis [Part1]

Defending legality in judicial appointments: The European Court of Human Rights and the Polish constitutional crisis [Part1]

That the Polish constitutional crisis would have had serious human-rights implications was clear from the start. It would have been naïve to assume that the CoE would not have had to react, somehow, to the momentous changes taking ...
MA v Denmark and Fedotova and Others v Russia: Judicial Activism in Protecting the Right to Family Life?

MA v Denmark and Fedotova and Others v Russia: Judicial Activism in Protecting the Right to Family Life?

On 9.7.21, the GC of the ECtHR found a violation of Article 8 ECHR in the case of a Syrian national enjoying temporary protection in Denmark, M.A., who could only be reunited with his family there after the expiry of a three-year ...
Kurt v Austria: ECHR Positive Obligations Without a Coercive Sting?

Kurt v Austria: ECHR Positive Obligations Without a Coercive Sting?

A terrible family drama reopens the debate about the coercive sting of ECHR positive obligations Measures to prevent crime have always been considered part of the positive obligations under Article 2 ECHR (right to life). Their ...