Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders in the decline of the Rule of Law: A Study on Human Rights Lawyers at the European Court of Human Rights
(c) Olivier Minaire Photography
Ezgi Özlü is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Strasbourg. She holds a PhD from the same university, where her research focused on how procedural costs affect the right of individual application before the European Court of Human Rights. Her dissertation was awarded the 2024 Thesis Prize by the René Cassin Foundation in France and the best doctoral thesis in Public Law at the University of Strasbourg for 2023–2024. During her PhD studies, Ezgi was a Research Fellow at the Department of International Public Law and Dispute Resolution at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law. She previously contributed to the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights by updating the memorandum on just satisfaction awards. Additionally, she served as a Research and Teaching Assistant in Constitutional Law at the University of Kocaeli. Admitted to the Istanbul Bar, Ezgi holds master’s degrees in Human Rights Law (University of Strasbourg) and Public Law (University of Galatasaray). Having published in three languages, Ezgi’s research interests encompass issues related to access to justice, including legal aid, procedural costs, admissibility requirements, and reparations. She is also focused on topics surrounding the legal profession, such as legal mobilisation, legal ethics, and litigation funding, as well as broader procedural aspects of international adjudication.
Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders in the decline of the Rule of Law: A Study on Human Rights Lawyers at the European Court of Human Rights
This project explores how and to what extent human rights lawyers contribute to the development of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Recognized as the most effective human rights regime in the world, the ECtHR has emerged as a prominent judicial forum for lawyers who noticed the potential of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to break new legal ground within national systems. However, as a strategic response to state discontent, the ECtHR has increasingly adopted a self-restrained approach. Moreover, most of the reform process have resulted in the risk of jeopardising the very essence of the right of individual petition. In the light of the heightened threshold to access to ECtHR, lawyers hold a greater power than before. Social movement actors, lawyers and expert NGOs can form ‘support structures’ for individual litigants and equip them with the necessary financial means and expert knowledge. Nevertheless, not all individuals have equal access to support structures that help them reach international courts. Human rights lawyers may thus play a crucial role in shaping the ECtHR's function in protecting and promoting human rights in Europe, particularly amidst declining rule of law and rising populism.
