Prof Philip Leach

Contact Philip: philipleach@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447

Contact Philip's Practice Team (Team T): TeamT@matrixlaw.co.uk

Philip specialises in international human rights law, both in his capacity as a practising human rights lawyer and as professor of human rights law at Middlesex University. He co-founded and until 2022 was Director of the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC), based at Middlesex University, which mentors and supports human rights lawyers and NGOs in the former Soviet region and which has litigated many ground-breaking cases which have set precedents internationally. He lectures, researches and publishes widely in the field of international human rights law, in the UK and in Europe.

Philip qualified as a solicitor in 1991 (Law Society of England and Wales) and is a former Legal Director of Liberty (NCCL) and the Kurdish Human Rights Project. Since 2018, Philip has acted as Co-Supervisor of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project (based at Middlesex University) whose team of Turkish/Kurdish lawyers provide support and mentoring to human rights lawyers and NGOs in Turkey, and submit third party interventions to UN treaty bodies and the European Court.

He is the author of ‘Taking a Case to the European Court of Human Rights’, 4th ed., Oxford University Press, 2017 and co-author (with Professor Alice Donald) of ‘Parliaments and the European Court of Human Rights’ (Oxford University Press, 2016).

In 2021, Philip was a member of an expert group involved in drafting a new set of ‘soft law’ international standards: the ‘Nijmegen Principles and Guidelines on Interim Measures’ (urgent orders delivered by international courts). From 2015 to 2020 he was Co-Investigator on the ESRC-funded ‘Human Rights Law Implementation Project’ (Universities of Bristol, Middlesex, Essex and Pretoria and the Open Society Justice Initiative): examining human rights law implementation in nine states across Europe, Africa and the Americas. He has also been commissioned to carry out research for inter-governmental organisations and national bodies, such as the Council of Europe, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (UK). In 2023-2024 he was commissioned (together with Professor Helen Duffy) by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (US) to research the impact and role of strategic litigation and prosecutions in ensuring accountability for war and other serious crimes and justice for victims, survivors and affected communities.

Roles for public bodies and NGOs

Philip was a member of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (England & Wales) from 2009 to 2015, as well as a member of the Independent Review into Self-inflicted Deaths in NOMS Custody of 18-24 year olds (the Harris Review) from 2014 to 2015.

From 2016 to 2017 he acted as Specialist Adviser to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights – Inquiry into mental health and deaths in prison.

Philip is the founding Vice-Chair of the European Implementation Network (EIN) (since 2018) and is a member of the panel of experts for the Digital Freedom Fund (since 2018). He has also acted as an Advisory Board member for the Open Society Justice Initiative (2016-2021), as a founding Trustee of the Media Legal Defence Initiative (2009-2014) and as a Trustee of the Human Dignity Trust (2010-2014).

Publications and conference and seminar papers

Philip’s recent publications include the following (since 2019):

• Responding to Seismic Change in Europe – the Road to Reykjavik and Beyond, European Human Rights Law Review, Issue 2, 2023, 95-111 (co-authored with Alice Donald)
• A Time of Reckoning? Russia and the Council of Europe, European Human Rights Law Review, June 2022
• Human Rights – the essential frame of reference in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (co-authored with Alice Donald). In: J Grogan & A Donald (eds), Routledge Handbook on Law and the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022
• Podcast: War and accountability, IBA Global Insight Podcasts, April 2022
• On Inter-State Litigation and Armed Conflict Cases in Strasbourg, European Convention on Human Rights Law Review, 2021, 2(1), 27-74
• Monitoring, cajoling and promoting dialogue – what role for supranational human rights bodies in the implementation of individual decisions?, Journal of Human Rights Practice, (co-authored with Clara Sandoval and Rachel Murray), 2020, 12(1), 71–100
• Fact-Finding: European Court of Human Rights. Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law, Ruiz Fabri, Hélène, ed. Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford. 2019.

Philip’s conferences and seminar papers include the following (since 2019):

• Conference paper on ‘Interim measures at the European Court of Human Rights’: Activating the Protection of Fundamental and Human Rights at European Level, College of Europe & Institute for European Law of KU Leuven/RESHUFFLE project, Bruges, March 2024
• Webinar: Developments in Interstate Dispute Settlement before Regional Human Rights Courts, Joint Webinar of the ASIL International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group & ESIL Interest Group on International Courts and Tribunals, December 2023
• Panel presentation at European Human Rights Law Conference at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law, September 2023, ‘The Future of European Human Rights Law: Prospects and Limits’
• Conference paper: Lighting the Shade: Effective Application of ECHR in Contested European Territories, September 2022, National University of Ireland, Galway (Panel Discussion: Jurisdictional Challenges under the ECHR in cases linked to Contested European Territories)
• Conference paper: A permanent state of emergency? Human rights challenges at EU’s external borders ‒ and beyond, September 2022, Berlin, Brot fur die Welt, Amnesty International, ECCHR (Panel Discussion: Rule of law at the borders: on the ambiguous role of law in securing rights)
• Seminar Paper: ‘Challenges in the execution process of positive obligations’ at seminar on Positive obligations revisited: new trends and challenges, September 2022, Utrecht University
• Conference paper: ‘Relevance and Challenges of the ECtHR’: Europe, Coronavirus and Human Rights – The Significance of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for the Protection of Refugees, Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin gGmbH, Berlin (online), June 2020

Philip is a board member of the European Human Rights Law Review (Sweet & Maxwell) and the European Convention on Human Rights Law Review (Brill Nijhoff)

Awards and grants

Philip was the Law Society Human Rights Lawyer of the Year in 2015. He was shortlisted for the JUSTICE Human Rights Lawyer of the Year award in 2010 and for the Liberty/JUSTICE Young Human Rights Lawyer of the Year award in 2000.

Philip’s academic research has been supported by grants from the Nuffield foundation, Leverhulme Trust and the  Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

The grant funders of the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) have included: Oak Foundation; Open Society Foundation; Sigrid Rausing Trust; MacArthur Foundation, European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights; FCDO (UK); Avaaz; National Endowment for Democracy; Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs; East West Management Institute (USAID); US Department for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; International Partnership for Human Rights; Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Litigation

As Director of EHRAC (until March 2022), Philip has litigated ground-breaking human rights cases against Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan (in collaboration with local NGOs). These cases have included egregious abuses committed by security forces (notably in Chechnya) and have provided an unassailable record of state malpractice in these countries (and led to the award of more than €5 million to applicants). Many of these judgments have created international precedents which have been applied by other international and national courts, on issues including state surveillance (Zakharov v Russia, 2015), persecution of human rights NGOs (Ecodefence v Russia, 2022), political prosecutions of human rights defenders (Osman Kavala v Turkey, 2022) and politicians (Merabishvili v Georgia, 2017), and the independence of the judiciary (Volkov v Ukraine, 2013. Some cases have led directly to changes in national laws, e.g. the Ukrainian Constitution was amended in the light of the Volkov case.

Other ECtHR cases (in which Philip acted at EHRAC on behalf of the applicants) (since 2019): Jafarov and others v Azerbaijan, 2019 (refusal to register NGO – art 11); Makuchyan and Minasyan v Azerbaijan & Hungary, 2020 (failure to ensure implementation of sentence of convicted murderer – arts 2 and 14 with 2 (re Azerbaijan)); Bagirov v Azerbaijan, 2020 (suspension and disbarment of lawyer – arts 8 & 10); Yunusova & Yunusov v Azerbaijan, 2020 (prosecution of human rights defenders – arts 5(1), 5(4), 6(2), 8, 13, 18 with 5, 34, art 1 prot 1); Aghdgomelashvili and Japaridze v Georgia, 2020 (homophobic police raid of LGBT organisation – arts 3 & 14); Estemirova v Russia, 2021 (abduction and murder of human rights defenders – arts 2 & 38); Democracy and Human Rights Resource Centre and Mustafayev v Azerbaijan, 2021 (travel ban and freezing of lawyer’s bank accounts– arts  13, art 1 prot 1, art 2, prot 4, art 18); Maksimova & Kasputin v Russia, No. 2021 (disappearance of investigative journalist – art 2); Selygenenko v Ukraine, 2021 (denial of IDPs’ right vote in municipal elections – art 1 prot 12).

Philip’s casework during his time at Liberty (cases brought against the UK Government) and the Kurdish Human Rights Project (cases brought against the Government of Turkey) include the following:

• (for Liberty): Peck v UK (2003) 36 EHRR 41 (disclosure of CCTV film to media – violation of arts 8 & 13); Paul & Audrey Edwards v UK (2002) 35 EHRR 19 (death in custody – violation of arts 2 & 13); Smith & Grady v UK (2000) 29 EHRR 493 (ban on homosexuals in armed forces – violations of arts 8 & 14); Foxley v UK (2001) 31 EHRR 25 (interference with bankrupt’s mail – violation of art 8); Caballero v UK (2000) 30 EHRR 643 (denial of the right to bail – violation of arts 5(3) & 5(5)); Steel & Others v UK (1999) 28 EHRR 603 (powers of arrest and detention for ‘breach of the peace’ – violation of arts 5 & 10); McLeod v UK (1999) 27 EHRR 493 (powers of police to enter a home to prevent a breach of the peace – violation of art 8); Roche v UK (2006) 42 EHRR 30 (freedom of information for military serviceman re chemical weapons tests – violation of art 8); Crossland v UK, 8.6.99 – the discriminatory provision of widowers’ benefits; Trivedi v UK [1997] EHRLR 521 (fair trial); Balfour v UK, App. No.30976/96, 2.7.97 (fair trial); Anderson & Others v UK [1995] 25 EHRR CD 172 (rights of access over town centre quasi-public land) and V. v UK, App. No. 24546/97, 20.5.98 (amendment of birth certificates).
• (for KHRP): Tanli v Turkey (2004) 38 EHRR 3 (death in police custody – violation of arts 2 & 13); Acar v Turkey (2004) 38 EHRR 2 (enforced ‘disappearance’ of applicant’s son – violation of arts 2 & 13); Yoyler v Turkey, judgment 24.7.03 (destruction of home by security services – violation of arts 3, 8, 13 & Art 1 Protocol 1); Sadak and Others v Turkey (2003) 36 EHRR 23 (ban on political party – violation of art 3 Protocol 1); Tepe v Turkey,  (2004) 39 EHRR 29 (extrajudicial killing – violation of arts 2, 13 & 38(1)(a)); Tekdag v Turkey, judgment of 15.1.04 – extrajudicial killing (violation of arts 2, 13 & 38(1)(a)); Avsar v Turkey (2003) 37 EHRR 53 (kidnapping and killing by village guards – violations of arts 2 & 13); Issa v Turkey (2005) 41 EHRR 27 (extra-judicial killings on Iraqi territory); Akman v Turkey (fatal shooting of applicant’s son by security forces); Seker v Turkey, judgment of 21.2.06 (extrajudicial killing – violation of arts 2 & 13).

• Philip’s other EHRAC cases at ECtHR: Isayeva v Russia (2005) 41 EHRR 38 (aerial and artillery bombardment of village by federal troops causing fatalities – violations of arts 2 & 13); Khashiyev and Akayeva v Russia (2006) 42 EHRR 20 (extra-judicial killings – violations of arts 2 & 13); Isayeva, Yusupova & Bazayeva v Russia (2005) 41 EHRR 38 (aerial bombardment of convoy of civilian cars causing fatalities – violations of arts 2, 13 and article 1 Protocol 1); Novoselov v Russia, judgment of 2.6.05 (poor prison conditions – violation of art 3), Fadeyeva v Russia, judgment of 9.6.05 (environmental pollution – violation of art 8); Bitiyeva and X v Russia, Nos 57953/00 & 37392/03, 21 June 2007 (extra-judicial executions – violations of arts 2, 3, 5, 13 & 38(1)(a)); Alikhadzhiyeva v Russia, No. 68007/01, 5 July 2007 (‘disappearance’ – violations of arts 2, 3, 5 & 13); Magomadov and Magomadov v Russia, No. 68004/01, 12 July 2007 (‘disappearance’ – violations of arts 2, 3 & 5); Musayev and others v Russia, Nos. 57941/00, 58699/00 & 60403/00, 26 July 2007 (extra-judicial killings – violations of arts 2, 3 and 13); Zolotukhin v Russia, 14939/03, 10.2.09 (GC) (double jeopardy – violation of Article 4 of Protocol 7); Kiladze v Georgia, No. 7975/02, 2.2.10(compensation for victims of political repression – violation of Article 1 of Protocol 1); Abuyeva v Russia, No. 27065/05, 2.12.10 (aerial and artillery bombardment of village by federal troops causing fatalities – violations of arts 2 & 13); Sargsyan v Azerbaijan, No. 40167/06, 16 June 2015 (GC) (displacement during Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – violation of arts 8, 13 & A1P1); Rasul Jafarov v Azerbaijan, No. 69981/14, 17 March 2016 (prosecution of human rights defenders – violation of arts 5(1), 5(4), 18 & 34); Berdzenishvili and others v Russia, No. 14594/07, 20 December 2016 (expulsion of Georgian nationals – violations of arts 3, 5(1), 5(4), 13 & art 4 prot 4); Aliyev v Azerbaijan, No. 68762/14, 20 September 2018 (prosecution of human rights defender – violations of arts 5, 5(1), 5(4), 8, 18 with 5 & 8); Jafarov and others v Azerbaijan, No. 27309/14, 25 July 2019 (refusal to register NGO – violation of art 11); Maksimova & Kasputin v Russia, No. 43955/11, 19 October 2021 (disappearance of investigative journalist – violation of art 2);
• UN Human Rights Committee: Bratsylo and Others v Russia, 27 March 2024 (forced naturalisation and transfer of prisoner from Crimea to Russia – violations of arts 9, 12, 15, 26 ICCPR).