The European Court of Human Rights delivered two interesting judgments yesterday. I thought they were important enough to be covered straight away but the rulings don’t seem to have been picked up by mainstream news outlets yet, at least in the UK.
The first was about a young woman from Dewsbury who was allegedly raped by a bartender at a Greek holiday resort. The facts of the case, recounted in the judgment, are shocking. In its ruling, the court said that Greece had breached its positive obligations under article 3 of the human rights convention.
Article 3, which admits of no exceptions, covers some of the most serious obligations in the convention. The court made some important observations about gender-based violence.
Here’s my report:
The second case was an attempt to overturn laws that took effect in most of Belgium more than five years ago. Not surprisingly, the court decided that this was a step too far. But in doing so it interpreted/developed/stretched article 9 of the convention further than ever before. For the first time in this context, it had to balance human rights against animal rights. And the animals won.
This is how I reported it:
Still, the newspapers do catch up eventually. Today’s Guardian covers a story that I reported here on 30 January.
What are the UK rules for animals used for kosher meat? Stunned beforehand ?
Prompted by Belgian case