Workshop on Positive Obligations and Discrimination in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights

Workshop on Positive Obligations and Discrimination in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights

Lund University, 4-5 June 2026  

Conveners: Vladislava Stoyanova - Lund University & Karin de Vries - Utrecht University

Part of the The Borders Within: the Multifaceted Legal Landscape of Migrant Integration in Europe - Activities - Lund University

Aim and scientific relevance of the workshop

This workshop aims to explore the potential and limitations of the European Court of Human Rights’ case law on positive obligations and the prohibition of discrimination.

Questions/topics to be addressed include, but are not limited to:

1. Which (types of) positive obligations have been recognised by the ECtHR in relation to the prohibition of discrimination (Articles 14 and 1 Twelfth Protocol ECHR)? (How) does the scope and/or nature of these obligations differ depending on the type of discrimination at stake (eg hate speech/hate crime, direct/indirect discrimination, by public or private actors), the context in which discrimination occurs (employment, education, policing, immigration, etc..) and/or across discrimination grounds and can these differences be justified?

2. How do the elements of knowledge, causation and reasonableness play a role in ECtHR case law on discrimination? How does the formulation of a discrimination argument, as opposed to arguments about breach of substantive provisions, affect the role of these three elements (knowledge, causation and reasonableness)? More specifically when it comes to causation, how does the Court perceive and argue in favour of any links between state omissions and harm?

3. Which remedies are prescribed (or should be/could be prescribed) by the ECtHR in order to address breaches of positive obligations in the field of discrimination law? Which forms of State action are required (or should be/could be required) to execute the Court’s judgments? What role does causation (understood as a link between remedial actions and prevention of harm) have in the context of remedies? Is this role the same as in the determination of breach?

4. How does the conceptualisation of positive obligations to prevent or remedy discrimination, as established by the ECtHR, relate to and serve different theories of justice (distributive v. corrective or individual v. constitutional)?  How does the conceptualisation of positive obligations to prevent or remedy discrimination, as established by the ECtHR, relate to notions of structural (or systemic or institutional) discrimination?

5. What are the potential and limitations of ECtHR case law on positive obligations to address specific forms of (structural) discrimination, such as segregation in education, domestic and gender-based violence, hate speech/hate crime, racial profiling or discrimination resulting from the use of technology or automated decision-making?

6. How do positive obligations to prevent or remedy discrimination, as established by the ECtHR,  relate to concepts from equality/discrimination law including positive action, equality duties or reasonable accommodation?

7. Can the conceptualisation of positive obligations to prevent or remedy discrimination, as developed by the ECtHR, be compared with concepts and reasoning emerging from other jurisdictions? Can comparative parallels be drawn from the case law of other regional human rights courts (the IACtHR or AfCHPR) or from national doctrines and developments, to inform and evaluate the case law of the ECtHR? Can such comparative frameworks offer explanatory force for better understanding the ECtHR’s discrimination reasoning? 

Instructions

Interested scholars should submit the following:

(1) proposal of at least 1 500 words outlining the planned article for the workshop

(2) one page bio containing information how the scholar’s background is relevant to the workshop.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be submitted to both Conveners by email (vladislava [dot] stoyanova [at] jur [dot] lu [dot] se (vladislava[dot]stoyanova[at]jur[dot]lu[dot]se) ; k [dot] m [dot] devries [at] uu [dot] nl (k[dot]m[dot]devries[at]uu[dot]nl)) by 8 November 2025.  

Selected participants will be notified by 18 November 2025.

Draft papers will be due by 12 April 2026. Published articles and those in the process of publication are not eligible.  

Funding will be available for travel and accommodation.

Additional Information 

For inquiries, please contact Vladislava Stoyanova (vladislava [dot] stoyanova [at] jur [dot] lu [dot] se (vladislava[dot]stoyanova[at]jur[dot]lu[dot]se) ) and Karin de Vries ( k [dot] m [dot] devries [at] uu [dot] nl (k[dot]m[dot]devries[at]uu[dot]nl))

We look forward to your contributions!  

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Hosted by Lund University as part of the project The Borders Within: the Multifaceted Legal Landscape of Migrant Integration in Europe - Lund University & Utrecht University | Research platform Equality Legal Studies (EQUALS)

Convened by Dr. Vladislava Stoyanova (Associate Professor in Public International Law) & Prof. dr. Karin de Vries (Professor of fundamental rights law)

Output

We envisage publication of the papers presented during the workshop in a special issue with the German Law Journal.

Download call for papers