Davor Derenčinović, judge elected in respect of Croatia, and Canòlic Mingorance Cairat, judge elected in respect of Andorra, participated in an international congress on International Justice, Human Rights, and Accountability: The Role of International Courts in the Defence of Peace, organised on 3 July 2026 in Barcelona by the International Criminal Bar and the Council of Catalan Bar Associations. 

At the opening of the conference, Judge Derenčinović spoke about The Global System for the Protection of Human Rights: The Role of International Courts in the Defence of Human Dignity. He highlighted that the term “dignity” appears in numerous international and regional texts and instruments, and noted that it has frequently been used in the Court’s reasoning and case-law, particularly in cases concerning the use of force by State agents, the use of metal cages at trial, military service, life imprisonment, forced sterilisation, and issues of consent. He also referred to recent Grand Chamber judgments addressing the concept of dignity, such as Semenya v. Switzerland, Danileț v. Romania and Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia. 

Judge Mingorance Cairat took part in a roundtable discussion that addressed topics such as the challenges faced by the Court in ensuring effective human rights protection; the balance between States’ margin of appreciation and the need for effective judicial supervision; the Court’s role in situations of armed conflict and humanitarian emergencies; ways to properly incorporate the Convention and the Court’s case-law into the daily practice of lawyers and national courts; and the most significant Court judgments from the past year with a direct impact on human rights protection.