About Us

The European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) was established in 2003 with the support of the European Commission. Its primary aim is to assist individuals, lawyers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) within the Russian Federation, Georgia and Azerbaijan, to take cases to the European Court of Human Rights, whilst working to transfer skills and build the capacity of the human rights community.

EHRAC has a long-established partnership with the Russian NGO, Memorial. Formal partnerships were initiated with the Georgian NGOs, Georgian Young Lawyers' Association in 2006 and Article 42 of the Constitution in 2008 and with three Azerbaijani NGOs in 2010: the Legal Education Society, the Media Rights Institute and the Democracy and Human Rights Public Union. EHRAC also has links with many other NGOs and lawyers throughout the Russian Federation, Georgia, Azerbaijan and in other former Soviet Union countries.

EHRAC implements three complementary programmes:

Human Rights Litigation and Advocacy
EHRAC is currently working on around 285 Russian, Georgian and Azeri cases at the European Court. These cases concern, among others, extrajudicial executions, disappearance, ethnic discrimination, environmental pollution, torture and criminal justice. Click here for more information on EHRAC's litigation work.

Human Rights Capacity Building
By training local lawyers, EHRAC aims to give ordinary people across Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan access to lawyers who have the knowledge and skills to represent them effectively at the European Court. EHRAC organises formal training seminars, a legal skills development programme and produces Russian-language training materials.

Raising Awareness and Dissemination of Information
EHRAC actively seeks to draw international attention to the human rights situation in Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan and raise awareness of the results of its litigation work. This is achieved through press releases, the EHRAC Bulletin and other events.

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News

22 May - Prof. Philip Leach is quoted in article in the Tokyo Chunichi Newspaper on 'UK faces-off with European human rights court'. To see the article click here (available in Japanese only). The quote translates as: According to the analysis of Philip Leach, a human rights professor at London Metropolitan University, procedural delays are in part due to a backlog of more than 150,000 cases at the court. “A considerable percentage of these cases originated in Eastern European countries,” explains Leach, “this tells us that more needs to be done on safeguarding human rights there.”

17 May - Letter to EHRAC from Minister for Europe, David Lidington, read online here, reiterating the UK government's call for Russia to fully implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, notably those concerning Chechnya and other parts of the North Caucasus region.

3 May - European Court: Russia failed to conduct effective investigation into abduction in Dagestan
Press release - Shafiyeva v Russia
Judgment - Shafiyeva v Russia

2 May - 'Criticism of the European Court of Human Rights is Misguided' - Philip Leach of EHRAC is quoted in a piece on Open Democracy expressing concern that "British criticism might embolden Russian officials to just ignore the court". Read the article online here.

25 April - EHRAC has become a member of the recently formed exciting initiative 'Judgment Watch', whose mandate is to support, monitor and promote the implementation of human rights judgments. More details to follow when the website is launched.

20 April - 'The UK and the European Court of Human Rights' - a report by Philip Leach, Jane Gordon and Alice Donald (of the HRSJ at London Metropolitan University). This report was published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and offers a broad analysis of the relationship between the UK and Strasbourg.

17 April - Bringing Infringement Proceedings against the Russian Federation for gross human rights violations in Chechnya. EHRAC is planning to use this new Court mechanism to refer two Chechen cases back to the European Court and request that a full investigation be carried out into the bombing of Katyr-Yurt in 2000. Read the full media briefing and more statistics about the specific cases of human rights violations in Chechnya.

16 April - Article in The Independent featuring Prof. Philip Leach of EHRAC 'Britain urged to confront Russia over human rights' on invoking infringment proceedings against the Russian Federation for failing to implement judgments at the European Court concerning Chechnya.

13 April - In advance of the Brighton Conference next week on the future of the European Court, EHRAC joins other leading NGOs to make final comments on the Brighton Declaration. Read the full statement online here.

3 April - European Court Grand Chamber Judgment in Kotov v Russia (property rights of creditor) Comments on unilateral declarations

31 January - the Deputy Registrar at the ECtHR has issued a letter to Government Agents and NGOs on recent amendments to the Rules of Court Rules of Court

23 January - EHRAC is now on Facebook and Twitter. Follow us for the latest news. 

17 January - EHRAC and GYLA (Georgian Young Lawyers Association) have sent a Submission to the Committee of Ministers relating to the case of Kiladze v Georgia
Submission to CoM on Kiladze

10 January - EHRAC joins other leading NGOs in submitting comments to the Council of Europe following Interlaken and Izmir Declarations on the future of the European Court of Human Rights
Joint NGO comments to CoE

9 January 2012 - European Court rules Nagorno-Karabakh conflict case admissible
Press release: Sargsyan v Azerbaijan
Admissibility decision - Sargsyan v Azerbaijan
Sargsyan v Azerbaijan case summary

20 December 2011 - European Court: Russia found responsible for inhuman and unlawful treatment of Uzbek pending extradition Ergashev judgment

9 December - the Committee of Ministers has issued a new Interim Resolution concerning actions of the Russian security forces in Chechnya

8 December - EHRAC is now accepting applications for the March 2012 Oak Foundation Human Rights Internship Programme from all final-year students, graduates and post-graduates. Closing date: 19th January 2012 March 2012 Oak internship

2 December - Read the latest issue of the EHRAC Bulletin

Bulletin 16 ENG
Bulletin 16 RUS

23 November - Submission from European Human Rights Advocacy Centre, Russian Justice Initiative and Human Rights Centre Memorial concerning the execution of general measures in the Khashiyev group Submission to CoM

9 November – the ECtHR has communicated to the Russian Government a series of cases relating to the 2008 South Ossetia conflict. In early 2009, EHRAC and GYLA (Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association) jointly lodged 32 cases on behalf of 135 Georgian citizens, who allege that Russia committed serious violations of the ECHR during the August 2008 armed conflict between Russia and Georgia. Press release from 2009. 

8 November - European Court: Expulsion of Uzbek from Russia would breach Article 3 in Yakubov v Russia

Yakubov press release

Yakubov judgment

4 November - NGO Joint Statement on UK Chairmanship priorities: Statement on the United Kingdom's priorities and objectives for its chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe by: Amnesty International, the AIRE Centre, the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC), Interights, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR), Human Rights Watch, JUSTICE and Liberty

1 November - Letter to UK Commission on a Bill of Human Rights: joint letter responding to the interim recommendations (and the parallel letter of 28 July) of the Commission on a Bill of Rights. This letter has been jointly authored by eight civil society organizations including EHRAC, the AIRE Centre, Amnesty International, INTERIGHTS, International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, JUSTICE, and the Open Society Justice Initiative.

5 October - The Cat Paradox: article by Rosalind English which discusses Article 8 and ECHR cases in the UK and quotes Prof. Philip Leach of EHRAC.

13-17 September - The Legal Skills Development Programme 2011 was hosted by EHRAC and attended by Memorial HRC Moscow, the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, the Legal Education Centre and Media Rights Institute in Baku, and the Democracy & Human Rights Resource Centre in Sumgait. LSDP 2011 Feedback.pdf

15 September - Prof. Philip Leach and others write to the editor of The Times newspaper: The European Court and 'minor' cases. Letter to Times Newspaper

28 August - Article published in The Guardian, Letters: Reforming human rights in Europe,features views and opinions from Prof. Philip Leach, Prof. Francesca Klug and others on the need for the UK government to respect the country's commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights.

8 July - Monitoring the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights: A handbook for NGOs by Dr Başak Çalı and Nicola Bruch of University College London Handbook for NGOs on monitoring imp ECHR judg.pdf

7 July - European Court finds that UK had jurisdiction under Art. 1 ECHR (obligation to respect human rights) in South East Iraq between 1 May 2003 and 28 June 2004 in respect of civilians killed during security operations carried out by UK soldiers in Basrah in the case of Al-Skeini & Others v UK in which EHRAC intervened.
European Court press release: Al-Skeini judgment Al-Skeini & Others_judgment

5 July - European Court: Russia tortured two Ingush brothers resulting in death of one in the case of Velkhiyev & Others v Russia.
Press release: Velkhiyev & Others judgment Velkhiyev & Others_judgment

21 June - European Court: Chechen died as a result of torture by Russian State agents in the case of Isayev & Others v Russia.
Press release: Isayev & Others judgment
Isayev & Others_judgment

15 June - The third edition of Prof. Philip Leach's practical guide: Taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights is due to be published by Oxford University Press in August 2011.  For more information see here.