Newsletter

1. European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) 

The ECtHR is a judicial body of the Council of Europe whose main function is to monitor the compliance of States parties with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). The ECtHR is responsible for analyzing complaints from individuals, groups of individuals or States for human rights violations committed by States that have accepted the ECtHR’s jurisdiction.

– On May 7, 2024, the ECtHR found that there was a violation of the prohibition of discrimination by the dismissal of a teacher based on her sexual orientation in the “A.K. v. Russia” case.

European Court of Human Rights. Source: Council of Europe.

The applicant in the case is A.K., a music teacher who worked at a state school for children with special needs in St. Petersburg. At the end of 2014, she was called to a meeting where she was informed that Parents of Russia, a non-governmental organization, had carried out a “dossier” on her private life, which included images caught on her social media in which she was kissing a woman. At that time, she was asked to resign from her job because she was “advertising non-traditional sexual orientation”. She refused to resign and, in December 2014, she submitted to the school, among other arguments, that there had been no other previous complaints about her conduct. However, that same day she was dismissed under the argument that she had engaged in “immoral acts incompatible with the continued performance of teaching activities”. The applicant filed a suit, but in April 2015 the Kirovskiy District Court dismissed her case, ruling that the school’s arguments were valid given that someone in a child-rearing position should not engage in immoral activities.

The ECtHR decided that the decision to dismiss the applicant had interfered with her right to respect for private life, and it considered that dismissal based on photos that were not obscene was strongly disproportionate to the aim of protecting morals. The ECtHR pointed out that no other measure had been considered by the school in this situation and that an individual’s sexual orientation cannot be isolated from private and public expressions, which are components protected by Article 8 (respect for your private and family life) of the ECHR. Furthermore, the ECtHR highlighted that the reaction from the school management had been a result of discrimination against her sexual orientation. Therefore, the ECtHR concluded that Article 8 (respect for your private and family life) in conjunction with Article 14 (protection from discrimination) of the ECHR were violated. The judgment can be found here and the press release here.

– On April 9, 2024, the ECtHR in a historic decision declared Switzerland internationally responsible for not implementing adequate measures to combat climate change.

Members of the Swiss Senior Women for Climate Protection outside the ECtHR. Source: Greenpeace.

The applicants in the case are four women and the Swiss Senior Women for Climate Protection, which represents 2,000 members and works to promote and implement environmental protection on behalf of its members. All the members of the association claim that they have health problems that are worsened when there are heat waves, which affect their lives and well-being. In November 2016, the applicants submitted a complaint to the Federal Council and other authorities related to the energy and environmental sectors, in which they pointed out numerous shortcomings in the climate protection field and asked for a decision so that action could be taken and called on the authorities to adopt the necessary measures to be in line with the 2030 goal set by the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. However, the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) declared the application inadmissible on the grounds that the applicants were pursuing interests related to the general public and that they were not directly affected and therefore could not be considered victims. They appealed and the appeal was also dismissed because these women were not a group affected by climate change. Another appeal was also dismissed for the same reasons in 2020.

Initially, the ECtHR pointed out that it can address issues related to climate change as long as it deals with the limits of the exercise of its competence, which is to ensure compliance with the actions adopted by States. In this sense, it stressed that it is clear that there are serious indications that climate change poses a major threat to the enjoyment of human rights, that States are aware of all this, and that they can adopt measures that are productive in this context, and that it is essential that measures are taken urgently. Therefore, the ECtHR decided that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the ECHR, which guarantees the rights of individuals to special protection by State authorities from the adverse effects of climate change on their lives. In this regard, it held that Switzerland exceeded its margin of appreciation and failed in its obligations by not acting in a timely and adequate manner to adopt measures and the relevant legislation in a climate change context (such as its failure to reduce GHG emissions). Likewise, the ECtHR found that Article 6.1 (right to a fair trial) of the ECHR had been violated, since there was no legal remedy for all the applicants (association and women). The judgment here and the press release here.