Graduate elected to European committee

A London Met graduate has been elected to an important position in the Council of Europe.

Date: 28/02/2012

A London Met graduate has been elected to an important position in the Council of Europe.

Dr Costas Paraskeva is now the Cypriot member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). 

The Committee, part of the Council of Europe, visits places of detention in European member states to ensure inmates are not subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment. CPT members are independent and impartial experts from a variety of backgrounds, including lawyers, medical doctors and specialists in prison or police matters. 

Costas’s success in being elected to such an important committee reflects both his remarkable talent and the excellent teaching and research support he enjoyed at London Met.

He said: “My time at London Met has helped me in my career. My participation in research projects improved my theoretical and practical understanding of European Human Rights law and of the working of the European Court of Human Rights.

“In addition, through my association with London Met I have gained a wealth of contacts so that I have gradually come to belong to an extended network of both academics and practitioners.

“I’m really happy to be elected to the CPT.”  

Costas came to London Met in 2002 to study LLM European and International Law. Upon completing his LLM, he decided to continue his studies at London Met. He began his PhD in 2004 under the supervision of Professor Philip Leach, Director of the Human Rights and Social Justice Institute.

Costas’s PhD thesis was entitled, ‘The relationship between the domestic implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the ongoing reforms of the European Court of Human Rights.’ His research was an extension of his Masters’ dissertation on the effectiveness and accessibility of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Professor Leach said: “I am delighted that Costas has been elected on to the CPT, and that he will be able to contribute to its very important and influential work in monitoring prisons, police stations and other places of detention right across Europe.”  

Dr Costas Paraskeva