FRC is pleased to announce the launch of The Rights of Roma in European Courts: Strategic Litigation and the Boundaries of Human Rights, an important new volume edited by FRC co-director Prof. Dr Kristin Henrard and Dr Lilla Farkas, and published by Oxford University Press.
The event will take place on Wednesday, 11 December at 17:00, and can be attended in person or online (registration required).
About the Book
The abundance of Roma rights cases before European and international courts reflects both the systemic marginalisation of Roma communities and their determination to push the boundaries of human rights law. Increasingly, Roma applicants and their advocates have turned to strategic litigation to prompt courts to advance their jurisprudence and broaden the scope of human rights protections.
This edited volume examines these developments in depth, assessing the extent to which strategic litigation can -and does- shape the human rights landscape. Adopting a long-needed yet underexplored approach, the book situates Roma rights within the broader human rights edifice and identifies the field’s key doctrinal and theoretical contributions.
The contributions focus primarily on the (quasi-)jurisprudence of:
the European Court of Human Rights,
the Court of Justice of the European Union, and
the European Committee of Social Rights,
with several chapters drawing parallels beyond the European context. The authors come from diverse disciplines, including human rights law, political science, ethnology, and climate justice.
Combining socio-legal analysis with detailed doctrinal inquiry, The Rights of Roma in European Courts offers an unparalleled resource for scholars and practitioners seeking to understand systemic discrimination against Roma communities and the legal avenues available to counter it.
Event Programme
17:00 – Introduction
By editors Kristin Henrard and Lilla Farkas
17:15 – Presentation of Four Chapters
Each chapter illustrates the volume’s overarching themes of systemic discrimination and strategic litigation:
Kristin Henrard provides a comparative analysis of Roma rights jurisprudence across three European courts and examines how acknowledging systemic discrimination influences judicial reasoning.
Lilla Farkas offers a critical reflection on the ontology of Roma rights jurisprudence, highlighting the importance of legal framing and tracing the development of racial discrimination and socio-economic vulnerability frames.
Serena d’Agostino discusses strategic litigation against forced sterilisation and the challenges posed by courts’ failure to recognise the practice as a form of structural intersectional discrimination.
Tamas Kadar explores the role of national equality bodies in enforcing EU anti-discrimination law, with a detailed case study of the Romanian equality body.
18:00 – Reflections
Els Keytsman De Ronne (UNIA) discusses the broader relevance of the volume for other groups facing systemic discrimination and seeking redress through strategic litigation.
18:30 – Q&A
18:45 – Small Reception