The Future of Human Rights Protection in Europe

Human rights protection in Europe stands at a pivotal moment. Legal systems, doctrines and institutions developed in the aftermath of war and authoritarian rule are increasingly confronted with complex and long-term crises, including climate change, populism, pandemics, digital disinformation and persistent social inequality. These developments challenge the resilience of the European human rights framework and raise pressing questions about its future capacity to safeguard fundamental rights. At the same time, the long-term consequences of today’s decisions will fall disproportionately on younger generations, whose voices remain underrepresented in scholarly debates. This edited volume responds to that imbalance by bringing together early-career researchers who engage critically with the evolving landscape of European human rights protection. Through doctrinally grounded and forward-looking legal analysis, the contributions explore how institutions, legal mechanisms and research approaches may need to adapt in order to respond effectively to emerging and intergenerational challenges.

The volume is organised into three thematic parts, each addressing a key dimension of transformation in European human rights law. The first part, ‘Future-Proofing Human Rights’, examines how legal and institutional frameworks might respond to structural and long-term threats, ranging from health emergencies and social rights enforcement to questions of accountability and institutional reform. The second part, ‘Opening Procedural Pathways to Tackle Injustice’, focuses on access to justice and the procedural mechanisms through which human rights claims are advanced and adjudicated. The contributions analyse how procedural barriers can limit effective protection and explore reforms in areas such as environmental litigation, repetitive applications before the European Court of Human Rights and corporate accountability within global supply chains. The third part, ‘Novel Approaches to Human Rights Research’, turns to methodological and conceptual innovation in the field. These include the evaluation of legal phenomena through narrative theory to reassess what is treated as legally relevant and what is not, the use of the extended case method to analyse human rights trajectories and the reliance on survey data to trace public support for human rights.

By combining legal analysis with innovative perspectives, this volume offers valuable insights for scholars, researchers and advanced students of European human rights law. It will also be of interest to practitioners, policy-makers and institutional actors working within the European human rights systems who seek to understand the emerging challenges facing rights protection and the potential pathways for its future development.