On 2 July 2026, the President of the Court, Mattias Guyomar, addressed the participants of the 2026 HELP Annual Network Conference, which brought together national training institutions from the 46 Council of Europe member States and beyond to exchange, cooperate, and modernise judicial training.

In his address, the President emphasised that, in times of increasing attacks on the rules-based international legal order, the democratic discourse needed “a shared legal and ethical foundation” - the European Convention on Human Rights.

He then spoke about how the Convention, as an instrument for protecting the European public order, promoting judicial truth, and protecting peace, served as Europe’s common frame of reference.

The President highlighted the role that the HELP Programme played in promoting human rights education, disseminating the Court’s case-law, and spreading the knowledge of the Convention and its values.

This two-day conference was organised under the Presidency of Monaco of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

• Speech by President Mattias Guyomar

On the opening day of the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty – being held in Paris from 30 June to 2 July 2026 and organised by the Together Against the Death Penalty association under the sponsorship of France, the European Union and Switzerland –, at which the President of the Republic delivered closing remarks, the President of the Court, Mattias Guyomar, took part in a plenary on the role of the judiciary as an actor of abolition. He sat on a panel, the subject of which was Regional courts and the impact of their decisions on the application of the death penalty, alongside Ms Veronica Gomez, Judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and Mr Dumisa Ntsebeza, Judge at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

In his speech, the President stressed that it continued to be fully relevant and was essential to join together, each entity within its respective capacity and all around the world, to work towards the universal abolition of the death penalty.

“Even in Europe, where there is no death penalty, we are seeing a resurgence in discourse advocating its reinstatement,” he warned, reminding those present of the role played by the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights in the abolition of the death penalty across the European continent. 

Lastly, referring to the adoption of Protocols Nos. 6 and 13 and the evolution of the Court’s interpretation of Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, he emphasised that, by its very nature, the death penalty was incompatible with human dignity.

On 30 June 2026, the Court hosted a meeting of judges with representatives with United Nations human rights treaty bodies. The meeting, organised with the support of the René Cassin Foundation and the French National Institute of Public Service (INSP), followed a symposium organised on the previous day to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of former Court President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, René Cassin.

During the meeting, the Court’s judges and the chairs and representatives of the UN Treaty Bodies exchanged views on various human rights issues and respective jurisprudential developments. The forward-looking discussions focused on identifying avenues for closer engagement and the use of jurisprudence, recommendations, and expertise, for a more coherent and effective human rights protection.

Noting that the United Nations is a key partner of the Court, President Mattias Guyomar said that the meeting was an opportunity to nourish dialogue and emphasised that the Court often referred to the case law of the UN Treaty Bodies in its judgments.

Changrok Soh, Chair of the UN Human Rights Committee and Chair of the 38^th Meeting of Chairs of the UN Treaty Bodies, also addressed the participants online. His intervention was followed by a working session chaired by the Vice President of the Court and judge elected in respect of Montenegro, Ivana Jelić, on issues relating to the functioning, challenges, and cooperation between institutions. The session featured contributions from Vasilka Sancin, judge elected in respect of Slovenia, and Hélène Tigroudja, Vice Chair of the Human Rights Committee, whose interventions centred on coordination and cooperation between the UN Treaty Bodies and the Court, as well as practical proposals for future action.

The second working session, chaired by Anja Seibert Fohr, judge elected in respect of Germany, focused on the topic of non discrimination in times of disruption and uncertainty. Mykola Gnatovskyy, judge elected in respect of Ukraine, and Tina Stavrinaki, member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and Chair of the Working Group on Individual Complaints, spoke about how the non discrimination standards set out by the UN and those developed by the Court in its case law under the Convention apply to today’s realities, including in the context of emerging technologies, climate change, and armed conflict.

Emmanuel Decaux, President of the René Cassin Foundation, delivered the closing remarks, highlighting the Foundation’s commitment to human rights protection in line with René Cassin’s legacy: fostering dialogue between institutions, bringing protection systems closer together, and working towards ever more effective guarantees of fundamental rights.

On 29 June 2026, the President of the Court, Mattias Guyomar, delivered a speech at the René Cassin Symposium, the theme of which was Universal human rights treaties at a crossroads: facing up to the challenges.

In his speech, the President emphasised that human rights had to be understood first and foremost as rights for all of humanity, universal in nature.

“They are fundamental rights, in that they are both rooted in the human person and are the foundation of humanity,” stated President Guyomar, adding that international and regional mechanisms for the protection of human rights shared a universal character.

“Our joint commitment will ensure that our shared ideals of peace and justice prevail,” the President said.

Following the President, Emmanuel Decaux, President of the René Cassin Foundation, Sébastien Touzé, Director of the René Cassin Foundation, and Linos Alexandre Sicilianos, professor at the University of Athens, former President of the European Court of Human Rights and member of ECRI, took the floor.

After the opening of the Symposium, a roundtable, chaired by Anja Seibert Fohr, judge elected in respect of Germany, was held on the universality of human rights treaties.

Vasilka Sancin, judge elected in respect of Slovenia, took part in a discussion on the nature of international human rights law, focusing on treaty bodies and the Court as they face emergencies and crises, including the return of war.

Ivana Jelić, Vice-President of the Court and judge elected in respect of Montenegro, presented the conclusions of the Symposium, an event organised in the context of the 50th anniversary of René Cassin’s death by the René Cassin Foundation, with the support of the National Institute of Public Service (Institut national du service public) and the European Court of Human Rights, and the “Strasbourg European Capital” triennial contract, under the academic supervision of Emmanuel Decaux and Sébastien Touzé.

On 29 June 2026, the Court hosted a meeting between the Registrars and the Government Agents aimed at further advancing institutional dialogue and cooperation.

Opening the meeting, the President of the Court, Mattias Guyomar, focused his opening remarks on third party interventions: “Strong third party interventions are essential to the Court's deliberations. They alert us to issues of importance for Member States. They facilitate the exercise of our judicial pragmatism. They help to ensure that the Court’s rulings are up to date, fact based, and relevant.” 

The Registrar of the Court, Marialena Tsirli, provided a brief overview of the Court’s activity over the past six months and presented figures that attest not only to the volume of the Court’s work, but also to the continued trust that States and individuals place in the institution. 

Following the opening remarks, Isabelle Niedlispacher, Government Agent of Belgium and co organiser of the meeting, took the floor.

On 26 June 2026 the President of the Court, Mattias Guyomar, the judge elected in respect of Belgium, Frédéric Krenc, the judge elected in respect of Monaco, Sébastien Biancheri, and the Registrar of the Court, Marialena Tsirli, gave talks at a conference on “Monaco and the European Court of Human Rights”. The event was held by the Monegasque Institute for Training in the Legal Professions at the Monte-Carlo Bay.

The President of the Court, Mattias Guyomar, spoke on the topic of “The European Court of Human Rights and contemporary challenges”. Highlighting the importance of the Convention system over the years, he stated that “it was precisely for such troubled times as we are witnessing today that the Convention was drafted and the Court was set up”. He then discussed the main contemporary challenges facing the Court, namely conflicts, the issue of climate justice and environmental protection more broadly, violence against women, threats to the rule of law, and new technologies, particularly in relation to disinformation, surveillance and data collection.

The judge elected in respect of Belgium, Frédéric Krenc, took the floor after the President, speaking on the subject of “The European Court of Human Rights: subsidiary supervision for effective rights and freedoms”. He emphasised that the Convention is more relevant than ever, adding that thanks to the Court, which has ruled on over a million applications to date, the Convention has made a significant, tangible improvement to people’s day-to-day lives.

The Registrar of the Court, Marialena Tsirli, addressed the theme of “The right to be heard: proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights”. Her talk focused on the three aspects governing the ability to be heard before the European Court, namely who can be heard (i.e. who is afforded Convention protection and who can apply to the Court), what procedural rules must be followed, and what safeguards ensure the effectiveness of this right.

The conference concluded with a discussion on the Court’s case-law and the Monegasque legal system, which was co-chaired by the judge elected in respect of Monaco, Sébastien Biancheri. He then delivered the closing remarks of the conference, touching on proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, the execution of the Court’s judgments and the impact of European case-law on Monegasque law.