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Dr. Cathérine Van de Graaf

Dr. Van de Graaf completed her Bachelor and Master of Laws at the University of Antwerp (2014) and an LLM in International Human Rights Law at Lund University and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (2017). She was a junior associate at Xirius Advocaten, where her duties mainly consisted of writing applications and preparing cases in various constitutional law matters.

She conducted her doctoral research at the Human Rights Center of Ghent University under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Eva Brems. In this context, she conducted empirical legal research focusing on procedural legal theory, perceived discrimination and Islamophobia, which led to publications in the Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, the International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights and Islamophobia Studies Journal.

In May 2021, Dr. Van de Graaf joined the team of Prof. Dr. Angelika Nußberger at the University of Cologne, where she continued her research on various topics of human rights protection and contributed to the establishment of the Academy for European Human Rights Protection.

In 2022, Cathérine received a scholarship from the Volkswagen Foundation for the joint project"Who is the Court for? Bringing the Human back into Human Rights Research", in which she focuses on the empirical recording of human rights histories before the European Court of Human Rights.

As part of the Human Rights Action Team at Ghent University, she regularly contributes to third party interventions before the ECtHR. Furthermore, she supervised the team of the University of Cologne at the Helga Pedersen Mootcourt Competition and was co-lecturer of Prof. Dr. Eva Brems for the course "The European Convention on Human Rights: Theory and Practice" at the University of Ghent. She is a member of the Open Council of Europe Academic Networks(OCEAN), the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law(BCCE), the Human Rights Centre(HRC), the International Islamophobia Studies and Research Association(ISSRA) and the Vereniging voor de sociaal-wetenschappelijk studie van het recht(VSR).

Areas of research

  • human rights
  • empirical legal research
  • procedural justice
  • perceived discrimination
  • Islamophobia

Former professional positions

  • Doctoral Research Fellow, Human Rights Centre (Ghent University), Ghent (Belgium), 2016-2021

  • Junior Associate, Xirius Advocaten, Brussels (Belgium), 2014-2015

Publications

Journal Articles
  • Heirwegh, Tess and Cathérine Van de Graaf (2019). The local swimming pool as a space of rights contestation – An analysis of ‘burkini’ policies in Belgian local swimming pools. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law. [article]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (2019). Procedural justice perceptions in the mediation of discrimination reports by a national equality body. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law. [article]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (2021). Procedural Fairness: between Human Rights Law and Social Psychology. Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. [article]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (2021). Perceptions of discrimination of Muslim women in Belgium: A study of discriminatory incidents across public and private organisations reported to the National Equality Body. Islamophobia Studies Journal. [article]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (2021). The Value of Fair Procedure: All’s Well that Ends Well? International Journal of Procedural Law. [article]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine. "Formal and informal mediation of discrimination complaints: A comparison of the legal framework and practice of Austria, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal in discrimination cases." European Equality Law Review 2 (2023): 54-73. [article]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine, and Angelika Nußberger. "Countering the Fiction of Neutrality: Pushing for Transparency?." Oxford Journal of Law and Religion (2023). [article]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine. ‘What about the presumption of innocence?’ Legal Consciousness and Himpathy in Social Media Users Comments on Flemish #MeToo Scandal. European Journal of Women Studies (2023), issue 4. [article]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine. “De bevoegdheid van het VMRI om meldingen over mensenrechtenschendingen te ontvangen.” Tijdschrift voor Mensenrechten 2 (2023):21-26. [article]
Book Chapters
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine. "Wat met het vermoeden van onschuld?” De effecten van juridisch bewustzijn op de #MeToo-beweging – Een kritische discoursanalyse van de reacties van sociale media-gebruikers op het schandaal rond Bart De Pauw in Eva Brems, Liesbeth Stevens en Pieter Cannoot (eds.) Recht en Gender in België - 10 jaar later (Die Keure 2021). [book]
  • Nußberger, Angelika and Cathérine Van de Graaf. "Pluralisation of Family Forms in the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights." In Nina Dethloff and Katharina Kaesling (eds.), Between Sexuality, Gender and Reproduction. (Intersentia Online 2023). 109-132. [book]
  • Pieter Cannoot, Cathérine Van de Graaf, Ariël Decoster, Claire Poppelwell-Scevak and Sarah Schoentjes. “Hormonal eligibility criteria in women’s professional sports competitions under the ECHR: the case of Caster Semenya v. Switzerland”, Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Rights (Springer 2023). [forthcoming]
  • Cathérine Van de Graaf, “Conflicting interests? European National Equality Bodies acting as (informal) mediators in discrimination complaints” in Elif Askin and Hanna Stoll (eds.) Contested Equality: International and Comparative Legal Perspectives (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd 2024). [forthcoming]
Blogposts
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (February 2024), Georgian Muslim Relations and Others v. Georgia: ECtHR rules that Georgia breaches positive obligations towards Muslim minority, Strasbourg Observers. [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (February 2024), Georgian Muslim Relations e.a. t. Georgië (EHRM, 24225/19) – Een bloedende varkenskop en andere uitingen van religieuze haat, EHRC Updates. [blogpost]
  • Academic Freedom team of the Human Rights Clinic (Ghent University) (9 June 2023), How Beijing influences academic freedom beyond its borders, Human Rights in Context. [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (1 December 2022). Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, Völkerrechtsblog. [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (28 October 2022), Banning body-covering swimwear: the Human Rights Centre submitted a Third Party Intervention to the ECtHR in Missaoui and Akhandaf v. Belgium, Strasbourg Observers. [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (14 June 2022), Belgium Reprimanded in Anderlecht Christian Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Others: the Procedure for Recognition of a Religion Lacks Minimum Guarantees of Fairness, Strasbourg Observers. [blogpost]
  • Raffaela Kunz & Cathérine Van de Graaf, On Academic Boycotts, Völkerrechtsblog, 04.04.2022. [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine / Khabook, Reza (28 January 2022), Ali Riza v. Switzerland: No Jurisdiction for the Court of Arbitration for Sport? Strasbourg Observers. [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine / Schoog, Yannick (22 December 2021). Too Old to Deserve State Support? – Šaltinytė v. Lithuania: Age Discrimination in Socio-Economic Policy. Strasbourg Observers. [blogpost]
  • Katsoni, Spyridoula, Meike Krakau and Cathérine Van de Graaf (1 November 2021). Here is to Blogposts, Editors and Authors! Cheers! Völkerrechtsblog. [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (1 September 2021). The Human Rights Centre Submitted a Joint Third Party Intervention. Strasbourg Observers. [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (4 June 2021). Obstetric Violence and the European Court of Human Rights. Human Rights in Context (blog). [blogpost]
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (30 November 2018). Mutu and Pechstein v. Switzerland: Strasbourg’s Assessment of the Right to a Fair Hearing in Sports Arbitration. Strasbourg Observers (blog). [blogpost].
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (5 October 2018). Inhumane and degrading treatment in the workplace: a first for the European Court of Human Rights? Strasbourg Observers (blog). [blogpost].
  • Van de Graaf, Cathérine (16 February 2018). The Whereabouts Requirement: Does the ECtHR protect the right to respect for private and family life of French sport professionals? Strasbourg Observers (blog). [blogpost].
Miscellaneous

Reports

  • Pieter Cannoot and Cathérine Van de Graaf, “Charting progress: A comparative analysis of LGBTIQ equality action plans in the EU”, commissioned by European Commission. [report]

Contributions to Third Party Interventions to the ECtHR (TPI)

  • TPI Obesnikova v. Bulgaria (application no. 20839/22) [TPI]
  • TPI Semenya v. Switzerland (GC) (application no. 10934/21) [TPI]
  • TPI Missaoui and Akhandaf v. Belgium (application no. 54795/21) [TPI]
  • TPI Semenya v. Switzerland (application no. 10934/21) [TPI]
  • TPI Mikyas and others v. Belgium (application no. 50681/20) [TPI]