The European Court for Human Rights has in its case law extended Article
10 of the European
Convention of Human Rights to multiple other areas. The ar-
ticle primarily discusses the concept of academic freedom.
The Court’s defini- tion of academic freedom
is generally very broad, but it has established certain situations where academics
actually enjoy a more limited freedom of expres- sion. And despite the high degree
of protection academic
freedom is awarded by the Court, some countries endeavour to expand it. For example,
the United Kingdom is in the
process of enacting a higher education freedom of expres- sion bill that would
severely expand the scope of this right, for which it has received some
pushback.
Key words: ECtHR, ECHR, freedom of expression, academic
freedom, Mahi v Belgium, Torres v Spain, higher education
(freedom of expression) bill.