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Ezgi Yildiz

Senior Researcher, The Graduate Institute Geneva
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About Ezgi

Yildiz's areas of specialization include international courts and institutions, human rights and global norms, and ocean governance. Yildiz was a postdoctoral fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Kennedy School (2017-2019) and a visiting fellow at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University (2017). She was recently appointed to serve as a member of the Expert Group for the Implementation of the EU Anti-Torture Regulation for the European Commission’s Foreign Policy Instruments (2021-2023).

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

How International Human Rights Law Can Contribute to the Prevention of Domestic Violence

Key Findings Brief,

In the News

"A Court with Many Faces," Ezgi Yildiz, Interview with Dr Sarah Nouwen, European Journal of International Law,
"The Anatomy of Legal Change," Ezgi Yildiz, The Global, August 6, 2018.
"The Pitfalls of Humanitarian Action in a State-Centric Legal System," Ezgi Yildiz, IWMpost, May 29, 2017.
"Roles and Responsibilities of Non-State Actors: The Case of Education and Training," Ezgi Yildiz, NORRAG NEWSBite, August 18, 2016.
"A Discourse that Fuels Violence: AKP and the Culture of Permissiveness toward Violence against Women in Turkey," Ezgi Yildiz, LeftEast, March 4, 2015.
"Shifting Centres and Dead-Ends: — An Analysis of the Presidential Election in Turkey," Ezgi Yildiz, LeftEast, September 9, 2014.

Publications

"Enduring Practices in Changes Circumstances: A Comparison of the European Court of Human Rights Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights" Heinonline 34, no. 2 (2020): 309-338.

Looks at the relation between legal cultures and practices through the lenses of practice theory. In particular, it focuses on public hearings at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) and explains how legal cultures and ethos shape the way public hearings are organized

"Revamping to Remain Relevant: How Do the European and the Inter-American Human Rights Systems Adapt to Challenges" (with Isabela Garbin Ramanzini). Journal of Human Rights Practice 12, no. 3 (2020): 768–780.

Compares the reform processes at the European and the Inter-American Human Rights Systems.

"A Court with Many Faces: Judicial Characters and Modes of Norm Development in the European Court of Human Rights" European Journal of National Law 31, no. 1 (2020): 73–99.

Takes a closer look at the European Court of Human Rights and provides a framework for understanding how court rulings develop norms – that is, how judicial decisions modify norms’ content or scope.

"Extraterritoriality Reconsidered" in The Extraterritoriality of Law, edited by Daniel S. Margolies, Umut Özsu, Maïa Pal, Ntina Tzouvala (Routledge, 2019), 215-227.

Explains the way the European Court of Human Rights determines the extraterritorial application of the European Convention of Human Rights and attributes state obligations for human rights violations perpetrated beyond their borders.

"Extraterritoriality Reconsidered: Functional Boundaries as Repositories of Sovereignty and Jurisdiction" in The Extraterritoriality of Law: History, Theory, Politics, edited by Daniel S. Margolies, Umut Özsu, Maïa Pal and Ntina Tzouvala (Routledge, forthcoming).

Explores how the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has approached extraterritorially-committed violations of human rights. Traditionally, the ECtHR has been wary of extending the application of the European Convention of Human Rights beyond the territories of European countries. Examines the varyingly strict criteria that the ECtHR devised for ensuring accountability for human rights violations perpetrated beyond the territorial boundaries of European states.

"Understanding the Interpretative Evolution of the Norm Prohibiting Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment under the European Convention" in Language and Legal Interpretation in International Law, edited by Anne Lise Kjær and Joanna Jemielniak (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Explains the changes in the understanding of the norm against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. Traces its evolution, taking the European human rights system as a reference point.

"Judicial Creativity in the Making: The Pilot Judgment Procedure a Decade after Its Inception" Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Rights Law 8, no. 1 (2015): 81-102.

Investigates the procedure's creation through the prism of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Analyzes its subsequent institutionalization and application in the case law. Illustrates the structural changes generated by the procedure, and examines the reasons undermining the effectiveness of its operation.

"Norm in Flux: The Development of the Norm against Torture under the European Convention from a Macro Perspective" iCourts Working Paper Series 45 (2016).

Gives an account on how the European Court of Human Rights' jurisprudence has transformed the norm's nature and scope. Analyzes the preparatory works and conducts large-scale content analysis on the relevant case law for the period between 1948 and 2006.