Free Speech Protection for ‘Public Watchdogs’ in the European Court of Human Rights - Dimitrios Kagiaros
Location:
Edinburgh Law School
Date/time
Tue 16 November 2021
17:30-19:00
The Global Justice Academy and the Edinburgh Centre for Global and International Law present
Free Speech Protection for ‘Public Watchdogs’ in the European Court of Human Rights
Dr Dimitrios Kagiaros, Assistant Professor in Public Law and Human Rights, Durham Law School
About the seminar
In its case law on Freedom of Expression, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) refers to certain speakers (namely the press and NGOs) as ‘public watchdogs’ (PWs). The term is not merely a rhetorical flourish. Assigning PW status to a speaker has important legal effects, as PWs enjoy significant benefits compared to other 'ordinary' speakers. Recently, the ECtHR’s Grand Chamber broadened the range of speakers who could benefit from PW status. The paper identifies the consequences of this expansion and argues that the Court should adopt a more principled approach when determining a) who is a PW; and b) the specific protections that each PW will enjoy under the speech-protective framework of Article 10 ECHR.
About the speaker
Dr Dimitrios Kagiaros joined Durham Law School as an Assistant Professor in Public Law and Human Rights in 2020, having previously been a Lecturer in Law (Education & Research) at the University of Exeter and a Teaching Fellow in Public Law and Human Rights at the University of Edinburgh, School of Law. He holds an LLB in Law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Law and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from Brunel University in London. He completed his PhD at the University of Hull, focusing on whistleblower protection in the European Court of Human Rights. His research interests include the European Convention system of human rights protection, the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis on human rights, and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Freedom of Expression. Dimitrios serves as a member of the editorial board of The European Convention on Human Rights Law Review (Brill Publishing).
This event is free and open to all but registration is required (link below).
Image credit: CherryX per Wikimedia Commons