Philip Leach
About/Bio
Philip Leach is Professor of Human Rights Law at Middlesex University and member of Matrix Chambers.
Recently Published
Anti-war Protest: The Historic Case of Novaya Gazeta and Others v Russia
April 10, 2025
Philip Leach
Born into a Jewish family in Ukraine, Vasily Grossman’s monumental account of totalitarian Stalinist Russia, Life and Fate, which included a remarkable portrayal of the battle of Stalingrad during World War II, was banned by the KGB before it could be published in the Soviet Union. In response, Grossman wrote to the then Soviet leader,…
Copenhagen: Keeping on Keeping on. A Reply to Mikael Rask Madsen and Jonas Christoffersen on the Draft Copenhagen Declaration
The debate about the future of the European human rights system is absolutely vital, and with that in mind we venture here to reply to just some of the points made by Mikael Rask Madsen and Jonas Christoffersen in their post about the draft Copenhagen declaration. Commenting on the position paper recently published…
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Why the Draft Copenhagen Declaration Must be Rewritten
The Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has issued a draft declaration ahead of the High Level Conference of foreign ministers of the 47 states in Copenhagen on 12-13 April 2018. Here, we argue that the Draft Copenhagen Declaration poses a grave risk to the independence, integrity and…
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Popular articles by Philip Leach
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Why the Draft Copenhagen Declaration Must be Rewritten
The Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has issued a draft declaration ahead of the High Level Conference of foreign ministers of the 47 states in Copenhagen on 12-13 April 2018. Here, we argue that the Draft Copenhagen Declaration poses a grave risk to the independence, integrity and…
Ukraine, Russia and Crimea in the European Court of Human Rights
March 19, 2014
Philip Leach
Much has been written recently about the legal ramifications of events in Ukraine, but there was a new development last week when the European Court of Human Rights granted interim measures in an inter-state case brought by Ukraine against Russia. The case was lodged on 13 March, and on the same day the Strasbourg Court issued…
Thawing the Frozen Conflict? The European Court’s Nagorno-Karabakh Judgments
July 6, 2015
Philip Leach
Last September, Erik Fribergh, the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights, told Government representatives on the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) that 'the Court is ... not equipped to deal with large scale abuses of human rights. It cannot settle war-like conflicts between States.' Yet, as Fribergh noted, the Court is increasingly being called on…