Eva Brems - ECHR

Onderstaande beschrijving is in het Engels:

Prof. Eva Brems (°1969) has been at Ghent University since October 2000. She studied Law at the universities of Namur (candidat en droit, 1989), Leuven (licentiaat rechtsgeleerdheid, 1992), Bologna (exchange student 1991) and Harvard (LL.M 1995). She obtained a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Leuven (1999), with a dissertation on “Human Rights: Universality and Diversity” (Martinus Nijhoff, 2001). Before joining Ghent University, she was a researcher at the university of Leuven (1992-1994 and 1995-1999) and a lecturer at the university of Maastricht (1999-2000). Her research in the human rights field covers most areas of human rights law (in Belgian law, European law, international law, and comparative law). She is the author of numerous publications in this field in Belgian and international journals and books, and a member of the editorial board of several law journals. She is an activist in several human rights organisations.

Contact: Eva.Brems@UGent.be

Publications: biblio.ugent.be/person/801001467181

Blog "Strasbourg Observers": strasbourgobservers.com

Strengthening the European Court of Human Rights: More Accountability Through Better Legal Reasoning

Human rights are under pressure, in Europe as elsewhere, due to several developments, namely

  1. War on terror: the pressures generated by competing discourses
  2. Coping with the dangers of rights inflation
  3. Conflicting rights: how to handle rights as contested claims
  4. The challenges of dealing with universality under fire

In this context, the human rights leadership of the European Court of Human Rights is of crucial importance. Its judgments should by all means avoid inconsistencies and its  legal reasoning should be both clear and persuasive so as to uphold  the Court’s credibility and maximize the impact of its decisions. This research programme intends to strengthen the consistency and persuasiveness of Court’s legal reasoning so as to improve its accountability and transparency.

The aim is to identify new technical solutions for important human rights problems, by the development and application of creative methodologies. The substantive innovations within the field of European human rights law that this project propose to make are:

  • the development of new  legal tools, which will consistently integrate the accommodation of the particularities of non-dominant groups into the reasoning of the European Court of Human Rights
  • the development of a new  theoretical framework combining minimum and maximum approaches to human rights protection, followed by its translation into clear legal criteria for use by the European Court of Human Rights
  • the development of a script that will enable the adoption of a consistent approach by the European Court of Human Rights to conflicts between human rights

The methodological approach is characterized by the combination of empirical and normative dimensions, a 360° comparison, and the integration of qualitative research methods (interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders).

This research project is performed by a team, composed of Prof. Eva Brems and five Ph.D. researchers. These are Maris Burbergs, Lourdes Peroni, Saila Ouald Chaib, Stijn Smet and Alexandra Timmer.