EIN's participation in the 2026 Council of Europe Litigators Meeting
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On March 19th, EIN attended the 2026 Council of Europe Litigators Meeting, organised in Strasbourg by the AIRE Centre together with the Open Society Justice Initiative, and bringing together litigators from Council of Europe States to exchange insights on substantive and procedural developments, share experiences, and discuss challenges in litigating cases before the European Court of Human Rights.
On this occasion, EIN Director, Ioulietta Bisiouli, participated in a panel discussion focusing on recent developments and ongoing challenges in the implementation of ECtHR judgments. Her intervention drew from a context of persistent gap between ECtHR judgments and their effective implementation, based on EIN’s latest findings in its joint EIN-DRI report on the “(Non-) Implementation of European Courts Judgments and the Rule of Law”, noting that nearly half of ECtHR leading judgments remain unresolved to date, and pointing to ongoing structural challenges — undermining the rule of law and the effectiveness of the Convention system — across several countries, particularly in areas such as the independence of the judiciary, freedom of expression, and the protection of vulnerable groups.
In this context, and with a view to continuing tailoring our support to the needs of our partners and litigators, EIN is developing resources and new training material framing strategic litigation as the first step to effective implementation. In this regard, Ioulietta’s presentation focused on the mismatch between strategic litigation and the Court’s case-by-case approach, which can lead to fragmented jurisprudence and weak recognition of systemic problems. She emphasised that this often enables States to adopt minimal compliance measures while leaving underlying issues unaddressed, sometimes resulting in premature closure of cases at the execution stage.
To mitigate this issue, EIN Director called for a more strategic and implementation-oriented approach to litigation and advocacy. She stressed the importance of framing violations as systemic from the outset, when this is merited, by building strong evidence bases, linking related cases, and resisting fragmentation throughout the implementation process. Strengthening cooperation among civil society, national actors, and international institutions was also highlighted as key to driving meaningful reform. Ioulietta’s intervention, which was warmly received, concluded by reaffirming that effective implementation must be seen as an integral part of strategic litigation, requiring sustained engagement, coordination, and forward-looking advocacy to ensure that ECtHR judgments lead to durable and systemic change.
This meeting was followed, the next day, by the European Court of Human Rights’ Biennial meeting with non-governmental organisations and litigators, where our Director carried the same message. More on this meeting: https://www.echr.coe.int/w/court-hosts-biennial-meeting-with-ngos-and-litigators