Research Seminar by Prof. Joyce DE CONINCK

Department: Law & Tax

Speaker: Professor Joyce DE CONINCK (European University Institute)

Room: building S 210

Zoom link: https://hec-fr.zoom.us/j/98159361252 

“Deliberative Discourse and the CJEU’s Hamoudi v Frontex”

Abstract

This seminar explores how human rights norms are shaped, contested, and operationalized across different legal and social contexts. Drawing on theories of vernacularization, vascularization, legalization, and discordant parity, it examines how human rights do not evolve through a linear or purely legal process, but rather through dynamic and ongoing deliberation among a plurality of actors. These perspectives are situated within a broader framework of human rights experimentalism, which understands rights as continuously refined to maintain their practical relevance and effectiveness.

Against this theoretical backdrop, the seminar turns to the evolving landscape of European Union human rights responsibility. As EU bodies assume increasingly direct operational roles, critical questions arise regarding how these entities—distinct from Member States—are held accountable for human rights obligations, and what it means for them to be bound by such norms in practice.

The discussion will further engage with the role of judicial and extra-judicial actors in shaping EU human rights responsibility, with particular attention to access to judicial review. In this context, the seminar will reflect on my recent involvement in the appeal proceedings in Hamoudi v Frontex before the Court of Justice of the European Union, using the case as a lens to examine how procedural access and deliberative participation influence the development and effectiveness of EU human rights protections. Ultimately, the seminar argues that meaningful access to the Court is essential to ensuring that the evolving system of EU human rights responsibility remains robust, responsive, and grounded in practice.