EIN CONFERENCE - Implementing ECtHR Free Speech Judgments: Civil Society Impact, Lessons Learned and Future Strategies
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On 25 and 26 June 2025, the European Implementation Network (EIN) is organising the closing conference of its two-year project ‘Protecting Freedom of Expression by Supporting ECtHR Implementation’. The conference, which will take place at the Konstantinidis Mansion, which houses the seat of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia and Thrace, in Thessaloniki, Greece. It will bring together diverse stakeholders to celebrate our collective achievements and plan future actions, highlighting the importance of peer learning and synergies in tackling shared challenges.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
Violations of the right to free speech are central to the crisis of democratic backsliding and the growing tendencies of illiberal democracies in Europe. The healthy functioning of many democracies is currently compromised by a mixture of restrictive measures and obstacles, including, inter alia, draconian defamation laws that silence journalists and human rights defenders through court proceedings, the excessive ownership of media outlets by the state or those linked to it that undermine free debate, and widespread violence against reporters. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has issued, to this date, more than 330 leading judgments in relation to the above critical subject-matters finding a violation of the right to free speech, a number of which are linked to “innovative” practices seeking to curtail free expression, including but not limited to the rising use of Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).
ONLINE ATTENDANCE
The event will be livestreamed, with the exception of the Dialogue on the implementation of free-speech-related judgments in Russia. A broasdcasting link will be added to this page ahead of the conference.
It is undeniable that these ECtHR judgments have an invaluable role to play in pushing authorities to undertake necessary reforms. Nevertheless, under the influence of growing and often systemic challenges to free speech across Europe, a significant part of the leading free speech judgments handed down by the ECtHR in the last couple of decades has been faced with increased resistance that hampered their effective implementation. In late 2022, there were more than 105 leading ECtHR judgments on free speech pending implementation, concerning at least 20 different States of the Council of Europe (CoE). These required reforms have the capacity to bring a significant impact on free speech for millions of people.
To contribute to the effort to tackle this problem, EIN ran a two-year project which sought to empower civil society to effectively engage with the implementation process to catalyse the necessary reforms. The implementation work carried out by project beneficiaries and partners, both at national and international level, has contributed significantly to the positive developments in several European States, a number of which will be presented during the conference.
This final conference of the project will therefore create a platform to reflect on the impact of the numerous and multi-faceted activities carried out in its context, to share best practices and lessons learnt from this extensive and coordinated work on the implementation of freedom of expression judgments, and to lay the ground for further important work on this thematic, which will build on the progress achieved so far. Civil society members involved in the project will have an opportunity to share experiences with peers working in different European States and discuss how similar impact could be generated in other jurisdictions. Furthermore, the conference discussion will focus on measures allowing to ensure the sustainability of the project, so that civil society actors continue taking part in the implementation process and increase their impact. The participation of other actors such as CoE or European Union (EU) representatives, representatives of national human rights stuctures, media and other relevant stakeholders will also allow participants to identify further synergies between all actors concerned.