Fundamental Rights Working Group

Coordinators: Giovanna Gilleri and Anna Krisztián

Contact: [email protected]

The Fundamental Rights Working Group provides a forum for researchers to discuss issues related to the protection of of issues related to the protection of fundamental rights, equality and citizenship in Europe.Recent case-law stands at the centre of the sessions, in particular decisions rendered by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. Our ambition is to keep track of the latest legal developments and to contribute to research on European fundamental rights protection carried out in various forms at the Law Department.

The Working Group invites speakers once a month to give a short presentation and assessment of the relevant subjects, which will be followed by a general (informal and open-minded) discussion.

The group is grateful for the support of Prof. Claire Kilpatrick.

Active Members:

Jeffrey Miller, Birgit Aasa, and Sabrina D'Andrea

Former conveners:

Hanna Eklund (2011-2014), Jan Trommer (2011-2012), Jan Zglinski (2011-2013), Luísa Lourenço (2012-2014), Marinus Van Den Brink (2013-2017), Daniela Alaattinoğlu, Stefano Osella and Raphaële Xenidis (2014-2018).

Activities 2017-2018

21 May 2018: Discrimination as Stigma. Speaker: Iyiola Solanke. Discussant: Raphaële Xenidis. Chair: Lilla Farkas. Co-organised with the European Anti-Discrimination Law Working Group and the Human Rights Working Group
14 May 2018: The Legitimacy of the European Human Rights Regime – A View from the United Kingdom. Speaker: Tamás Győrfi. Discussant: Richard Bellamy. Co-organised with the Constitutionalism and Politics Working Group and the Legal and Political Theory Working Group
14 May 2018: When Women’s Rights Are Not Human Rights: the Non Performativity of Equality for Survivors of Domestic Abuse in the Family Courts. Speaker: Shazia Choudhry. Discussants: Raphaële Xenidis. Co-organised with the Human Rights Working Group
5 March 2018: Undercover under Scrutiny: A Comparative Look at Undercover Policing in the United States, Italy, Germany and France. Speaker: Jacqueline Ross. Discussant: Martin Scheinin. Chair: Giovanna Gilleri
28 February 2018: The Forgotten Victims? Survivors of Involuntary Castration in the Nordic Countries. Speaker: Daniela Alaattinoğlu. Chair: Raphaële Xenidis. Co-organised with the LGBTIQ Interdisciplinary Working Group
23 November 2017: What Do We Owe To (Not So Distant) Strangers? Reflections on the ECtHR’s Medical Expulsion Case-Law. Speaker: Charlotte Steinorth. Discussant: Paul McDonough
16 October 2017: Global Gay Governance. Speaker: Aeyall Gross. Chair: Giovanna Gilleri. Co-organised with the EUI International Law Working Group

Activities 2016-2017

8 June 2017: Detention and Deterrence: Australia's Asylum Seeker Policy; and Frontier Cities: Local Authorities and the Silence of International Human Rights Law. Speakers: Claire Higgins and Barbara Oomen. Chair: Lilian Tsourdi
1 June 2017: Extraterritoriality Online: The EU's Attempts at Setting a Global Data Protection Norm. Speaker: Mistale Taylor. Co-organised with the EUI International Law Working Group
22 February 2017: Constitutional and Political Debates on Reproductive Autonomy in Central and Eastern Europe: The Case of Estonia and Romania. Speakers: Liiri Oja and Elena Brodeala. Discussants: Sonia Ariza Navarrete. The event is co-organised with the EUI Constitutionalism and Politics Working Group
13 December 2016: Keeping Rights at Home: British Conceptions of Law and Compliance with the European Court of Human Rights. Speaker: Zoë Jay. Discussant: Urška Šadl
23 November 2016: Freedom of Expression and Internet Service Providers after Delfi: Where now? Speaker: Eliška Pírková. Discussant: Gábor Halmai

Activities 2015-2016

30 May 2016: Discussion: “My Most Difficult Interview: an interdisciplinary engagement with the art of interviewing”. Speakers: Sophie Lemiere (Max Weber fellow); Katharina Lenner (Max Weber fellow); Lilla Farkas (Law researcher); Dieneke de Vos (Law researcher); Ieva Grumbinaite (SPS researcher); Emma Nyhan (Law researcher); Elena Brodeala (Law researcher); and Anna Kandyla (SPS researcher). Chair: Daniela Alaattinoğlu on behalf of the FRWG.
21 March 2016: Why Not Abolish the Laws of Urinary Segregation? Presentation by Prof. Mary Anne Case (Chicago Law School).
11 March 2016: Gender Constitutionalism and Conscience Wars: the scholarship of Prof. Reva Siegel.
02 February 2016: Supporting the Ursula Hirschmann lecture, "Notorious RGB": a conversation with US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, interviewed by Prof. Ruth Rubio-Marín.
29 January 2016: The life and work of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: awaiting the "notorious RBG".
30 November 2015: Discussion on "Bringing discrimination back into context: the potential of anti-stereotyping in the hands of judges" with Alexandra Timmer (Utrecht University Law School).
29 October 2015: "The human rights of sex workers": where do we go from here? Speaker: Orit Kamir. Discussant: Elise Herting.

Activities 2014-2015

26 May 2015: EU criminal law and legality principle: the desirability of the ECJ's approach to a primordial fundamental right. Speaker: Mikhel Timmerman.
09 April 2015: Sex(uality) and reproduction: evolution in human and fundamental rights law. Speakers: Paola Bergallo and Ruth Rubio-Marin. Discussants: Liiri Oja and Daniela Alaattinoglu.
23 March 2015: The autonomy of EU law vs. fundamental rights? Speakers: Martin Scheinin and Bruno de Witte.
25 November 2014: CJEU ON SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN BODY'S REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTIONS MINI-SERIES: Giovanni Sartor and Stefano Osella on Case C-167/12, C.D. and Case C-363/12, Z - Surrogacy, Motherhood, Logic and the Right to Parental Leave.
23 October 2014: CJEU ON SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN BODY'S REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTIONS MINI-SERIES: Aurora Plomer on Advocate General Cruz Villalon's Opinion in Case C-364/13, International Stem Cell Corporation and Case C-34/10, Brüstle - Embryos, Patent and the Right to Human Dignity.

Activities 2013-2014

29 May 2014: Pekka Pohjankoski - Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the recent case-law of the CJEU (with reference to Joined Cases C-335/11 and C-337/11, HK Danmark and Case C-363/12, Z).
30 April 2014: Pavlos Eleftheriadis - ‘A Union of Peoples’ - Moral and Political Principles that explain the Distinctness of the European Union. Discussants: Dennis Patterson and Loïc Azoulai. (Joint Event with the Legal Theory WG).
17 March 2014: William Phelan - The Limited Practical Relevance of National Constitutional Rights as a Constraint on the National Application of European Law in the Early Decades of European Integration - a political scientist's view.
25 February 2014: Maja Brkan - on Case C-131/12, Google Spain and Google - Fundamental Rights and Information Technologies: Eternal Allies or Perpetual Enemies?
24 February 2014: Gilles Trudeau - When Fundamental Human Rights Meet Labour Law: The Nexus between Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining in Canada.
27 January 2014: Gareth Davies on Case C-202/11 Anton Las - Proportionality and the Court of Justice
05 December 2013: AN AUTUMN OF SOCIAL RIGHTS series: What is a Social Right in the EU? - Silvana Sciarra, Sir Bob Hepple and Robin Gadbled on Advocate General Cruz Villalón’s Opinion in Case C-176/12, Association de Médiation Sociale (Social Rights - Rights or Principles? A make or break for the social rights of the Charter).
14 November 2013: AN AUTUMN OF SOCIAL RIGHTS series: Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation – Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation (Joint Event with the Gender, Race and Sexuality WG) - Marion Guerrero and Konstantinos Eleftheriadis on Case C 81/12, Asociaţia ACCEPT (Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, strategic litigation and football).
23 October 2013: AN AUTUMN OF SOCIAL RIGHTS series: Social Rights Across the Life Cycle in the Midst of a Crisis (three part series) 1. Entering the Labour Market - Nicola Countouris on Case C 290/12, Della Rocca (Precarious work and social rights) 2. Creating a Family - Marzia Barbera on Case C-7/12, Riezniece (The right to parental leave and “national economic difficulties”) 3. Getting Your Pension - Claire Kilpatrick on Case C 398/11, Hogan (Insolvent employers, pensions and economic crisis).

Activities 2012-2013

18 April 2013: Joint event with the RELEX WG, Joris Larik and Heko Scheltema, on Case Nada v Switzerland ECtHR, Judgment of 12 September 2012, (the UN Security Council Resolutions and EU Law in the Light of the Accession of the EU to the ECHR)
08 April 2013: SPRINGTIME FOR EUROPEAN FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS! series, Daniel Sarmiento, on Case C-399/11 Melloni, Case C-917/10 Åkerberg Fransson (The horizontal provisions of the Charter in the context of constitutional pluralism)
20 March 2013: SPRINGTIME FOR EUROPEAN FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS! series, Dominique Ritleng, on Case C-399/11 Melloni, Case C-917/10 Åkerberg Fransson (The scope of the Charter and its relationship with the ECHR)
30 January 2013: Philippe De Bruycker, on Case C-357/09 PPU Kadzoev, C-61-11 PPU El Dridi and C-329/11 Achughbabian (Detention and removal of illegally staying third-country nationals)
07 November 2012: Judy Fudge, on Case C-147/08, Römer (discrimination based on sexual orientation)
05 November 2012: Alan Dashwood, on Case C-34/09 Zambrano, C-254 Dereci and C-40/11 lida (Fundamental rights and free movement - The perils of over-interpretation)
24 October 2012: Giulio Itzcovich, on Case of Lautsi and Others v. Italy, Judgment of 18 March 2011 (the ECtHR's Margin of Appreciation Doctrine)

Activities 2011-2012

10 May 2012: Loic Azoulai, on the opinion of AG Bot in Case C-364/10, Hungary v Slovakia and the fortcoming Case C-286/12, Commission v Hungary
19 April 2012: Andrea Wechsler, on Case C-360/10, SABAM
15 March 2012: Eleanor Spaventa, on Joined Cases C-411/10 and C-493/10, N.S. et M. E. and others
16 February 2012: Bruno De Witte, on Case C-282/10, Dominguez and Case C-149/10, Zoi Chatzi