Letter from Mr Domenik Wanger, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the Council of Europe, to Ms Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly, dated 23 January 2024
Referring to your letter of 1 February 2023, I am pleased to provide you with the names and curricula vitae of the three candidates, the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein included in the list of candidates for election as judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Liechtenstein (in alphabetic order):
The national procedure for appointing the three candidates on the Government's list took place as follows.
On 28 February 2023, the Liechtenstein Government established a national selection body to submit a list of three candidates. At the same time, the government approved the update of the guidelines for the selection body that were already established in 2014 for the previous list of three candidates. These guidelines incorporate the various Council of Europe documents which refer to the requirements for the national selection procedure. Five experts were nominated to this body: the Deputy Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport (Chair), the President of the Constitutional Court, a former Liechtenstein Judge at the European Court for Human Rights, the Secretary General, Ministry of Infrastructure and Justice and the Director of the Office for Foreign Affairs
On 22 March 2023, a public call for applications was published in Liechtenstein, Swiss and Austrian (online) newspapers and on the homepage of the Government of Liechtenstein. Furthermore, all Courts (of highest instances) in Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria, as well as all the law faculties, were informed about the call. Moreover, the Ambassadors resident in Strasbourg and the Government Agents of Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Luxembourg and relevant persons in the Council of Europe were made aware of the public call.
Within the deadline of 2 May 2023, nine applications from Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Austria and Germany were submitted. After the selection body had carefully assessed the written applications, all applicants were invited for interviews. These interviews lasting 50 minutes each were held on 20 June, 7 and 10 July 2023 respectively, they were based upon a standardised format which included an assessment of applicants' linguistic abilities. On 10 July 2023, the selection body decided on the list of three candidates and the government approved this decision on 12 July 2023.
[…]
Name, forename: Chablais, Alain
Sex: male
Date and place of birth: 8 July 1969, Zürich, Switzerland
Nationalities: Swiss, French
1996: Doctor of Laws (Dr. iur / PhD), University of Fribourg (summa cum laude)
1992: Master of Laws (lic. iur), University of Fribourg (magna cum laude)
1988 – 1992: Studies in Law, University of Fribourg (CH)
2018 – present: Government Agent of Switzerland before the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Committees (CAT, CERD, CEDAW and CRC), Federal Office of Justice, Bern
2009 – 2012: Judge at the Federal Administrative Court, St Gallen (CH), member of Chamber I (Legal areas: data protection, access to public documents, expropriation, environment, communication, energy, infrastructure, civil service, State liability and mutual assistance in administrative matters)
2005 – 2009: Co-Secretary of the Advisory Committee on Disputes of the Council of Europe
1999 – 2004: Law Clerk at the Sports Tribunal of the Swiss Football League
1995 – 1999: Law Clerk – Rapporteur at the Administrative Court of the Canton of Fribourg, Social Insurance Chamber
1994 – 1995: Member of the Appeals Commission of the University of Fribourg (CH)
2013 – 2018: Deputy Head, Task Force Asset Recovery, Directorate of International Law, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Bern
2012 – 2013: Professor (Public Law Chair) at the Law Faculty, University of Neuchâtel (CH)
1999 – 2009: Directorate General of Legal Affairs and Human Rights (DG I), Council of Europe
1996 – 1998: Legal Officer, Unit Total Revision of the Constitution, Federal Office of Justice
1992 – 1995: Research and teaching Assistant, University of Fribourg (CH), Law Faculty
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Since 2018, I have been very active in intergovernmental co-operation on human rights at the Council of Europe. As the Swiss Delegate to the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), I have been involved in the preparation of a number of important recommendations, guidelines and reports on human rights as well as on the system of the ECHR, such as the report on the place of the Convention in the European and international legal order, and the evaluation of the Interlaken process. I was elected as a CDDH Bureau member for the period 2020-2021 and re-elected for the period 2022-2023.
I have also been closely involved in the work of the Committee of Experts on the System of the ECHR (DH-SYSC), of which I have been elected President as from 2023. The work of this Committee is of utmost importance for the proper functioning of the Convention system, which rests on a shared responsibility between all actors. In 2020-2022, I presided the DH-SYSC-IV, which finalised a report on the effective processing and resolution of cases relating to inter-State disputes. This report has been subsequently approved by the CDDH and has formed the basis of the first Declaration of the Committee of Ministers adopted on this topic.
The accession of the EU to the ECHR will constitute a major step in the development of the protection of human rights in Europe. It will also enhance coherence in human rights protection in Europe. The negotiations have resumed in 2020 within the CDDH ad hoc negotiation group “46 + 1”. As the Vice-President of this Group, I have been strongly committed to proposing the finding of compromise solutions to make accession possible while preserving the integrity of the Convention system, the equality between all parties and the rights of the applicants. I have in particular acted as coordinator of the non-EU member States to facilitate the emergence of a common position. In March 2023, the Group reached a unanimous provisional agreement on solutions to all issues except one, which the EU is due to resolve internally.
As a staff member of the Council of Europe during more than 10 years, I actively promoted the values of the Organisation, i.e. human rights, democracy and the rule of law. I had the opportunity of developing the monitoring mechanism of the then newly adopted Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. I have organised a number of monitoring visits, drafted numerous country-specific or thematic opinions from the Advisory Committee and prepared and negotiated draft recommendations for the attention of the GR-H and the Ministers’ Deputies. The protection of national minorities and of the rights of persons belonging to those minorities forms an integral part of the international protection of human rights. Equality and non-discrimination, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience and religion are of universal nature but they are particularly relevant for persons belonging to national minorities. These rights and freedoms have therefore been included in the Framework Convention with the understanding that they must be interpreted in accordance with the ECHR. At the Secretariat of the Venice Commission, I had the opportunity of analysing the compatibility of several national pieces of legislation with the Human Rights case-law of the Court and with the democratic principles which form our common European heritage. The related draft opinions and reports which I prepared together with the rapporteurs formed the basis for challenging exchanges preceding the formal adoption of the corresponding opinions by the Venice Commission in its plenary meetings.
In my capacity as Deputy Head of the Task Force Asset Recovery at the Directorate of International Law within the Department of Switzerland, I dealt with both contentious and non-contentious procedures concerning freeze and confiscation of illicit assets held by foreign politically exposed persons (PEPs). Their individual rights, including those protected under Article 6 ECHR, always had to be respected in the context of such procedures under the scrutiny of national courts. As concerns international mutual assistance in criminal matters including extradition, I dealt with several complex cases of PEPs involving international corruption and/or money laundering, in close cooperation with the Office of the Attorney General, the Federal Office of Justice, as well as the requesting and requested States. In this context, particular attention was always paid to examining whether a request for co-operation should not be granted in case the foreign proceedings did not meet the procedural requirements of the ECHR, which required a thorough individual examination.
The ECHR and the related case-law form an integral part of the case-law of the Federal Administrative Court. As a judge having served in this Court, I applied the ECHR guarantees as interpreted by the Court in my daily judicial practice, including with regard to procedural issues. This was in particular the case in the context of applications concerning data protection, environment and access to public documents.
Human rights and fundamental freedoms were at the center of my activities during my first period at the Federal Office of Justice within the Unit Total Revision of the Constitution. I had the opportunity to participate in the drafting of the provisions of the Chapter on fundamental rights (Articles 7 – 36) and the corresponding section of the Dispatch [explanatory report] presented by the Government to the Parliament. The catalogue of fundamental rights of the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 1999 is largely inspired from the ECHR human rights and fundamental freedoms and the related case-law.
Finally, I participated in a number of conferences as speaker, panelist or rapporteur during my professional career and I continue to do so. Most recent examples of such conferences addressing human rights issues and the ECHR system include:
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2023 – present: President of the DH-SYSC
2020 – present: Vice-President of the CDDH ad hoc negotiation group “46 + 1”
2020 – present: Member of the Bureau of the CDDH
2020 – 2022: President of the DH-SYC-IV
2009-2012: Judge at the Federal Administrative Court
None
2003 – 2006: Guest Lecturer in the Multidisciplinary Masters Programme in European Integration and Regionalism, European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen
2003 – 2005: Guest Lecturer in the Diplôme d’études approfondi (D.E.A.) of Comparative Human Rights Law, Institute of Advanced European Studies, Robert Schuman University, Strasbourg
2001 – 2008: Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen
I have published about 21 books and articles in the fields of public international law, human rights law and constitutional and administrative law. Here is a selection of the most topical ones:
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I confirm
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I confirm that I will take up permanent residence in Strasbourg if elected a judge on the Court.
Name, forename: Gächter-Alge, Marie-Louise
Sex: female
Date and place of birth: 31 July 1973, Innsbruck, Austria
Nationality: Austrian
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09/2022-08/2024 |
University of Oxford, MSc in International Human Rights Law |
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10/2005-02/2011 |
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, Doctoral Programme (Dr.iur. HSG) Doctoral thesis: ‘Multilingualism in International Treaty Law – The Drafting and Interpretation of Multilingual Treaties’ |
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09/1991-05/1996 |
University of Innsbruck, Austria, Law Studies (Magistra iuris) and Studies of Translation (English and French) |
In my current capacity as the Head of the Data Protection Authority, the primary emphasis lies in deciding complaints according to Article 77 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In these instances, individuals are in opposition to the data processor and it falls upon the Data Protection Authority to adjudicate the dispute. In this context, the role takes on a resemblance to that of a judge.
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04/2021-present |
Titular Professor, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, (focusing on public international law, European Convention on Human Rights, State responsibility in international law, European data protection law) |
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09/2008-03/2021 |
Senior Lecturer, University of Fribourg (focus identical to current position mentioned above) |
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01/2018-present |
Head of the Data Protection Authority of the Principality of Liechtenstein |
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01/2018-present |
Regular guest lecturer at the University of Liechtenstein and the Private University of Liechtenstein (UFL) (European data protection law) |
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10/2013-12/2017 |
Legal Advisor, State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, Berne (responsible for the establishment and implementation of the national legal framework for the Swiss participation in the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020, direct funding as of 2014) |
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10/2012-09/2013 |
Scientific Advisor, Swiss Science Council (SCC), Berne |
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12/2008-09/2012 |
Coordinator (Post-Doctoral Position), Ecole doctorale ProDoc Fondements du droit européen et international (Doctoral Programme in International and European Law), Prof. Samantha Besson, University of Fribourg |
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07/2007-08/2007 |
Internship, Court of Justice of the European Union, Luxembourg (Advocate General M. Poiares Maduro) |
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10/2005-05/2009 |
Research and teaching assistant to Prof. Kerstin von der Decken, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland (focusing on international human rights law) |
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02-07/1999 and 06/1996-01/1997 |
Internship, regional courts in Innsbruck and Feldkirch (Austria) |
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06-09/1995 |
Internship, Bezirkshauptmannschaft (regional administration), Dornbirn, Austria |
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02/1997-10/2005 Freelance Translator (legal translation in the field of constitutional law, human rights law, environmental law, Swiss federalism, legal assistance, etc.)
2019-2023: Member of the Liechtenstein Commission on the Beneficial Ownership Register
Liechtenstein Human Rights Association, Amnesty International Liechtenstein and aha: Human Rights Education and Training at ‘Sekundarstufe 1’ (age 10-15)
Monograph
Articles and Chapters (extract)
Legal translations (extract)
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Yes.
Name, forename: Reiter, Catherine
Sex: female
Date and place of birth: 18 May 1974, Altstaetten, Switzerland
Nationality: Swiss
2022 CAS Judiciary, University of Lucerne, Switzerland
2022 Master of Advanced Studies in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law (MTJ), Geneva Academy (University of Geneva and IHEID), Switzerland
2022 Master of Law, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
2022 PD / Venia Legendi, Public Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2018 CAS Compliance Investigator, ZHAW, Switzerland
2015 Ph.D. (jurisprudence), University of Zurich, Switzerland
2008 DAS Law and Business Ethics, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2007 Admission to the Bar
2003 Master of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Judge
2022 – current: Judge (military post) at the highest military court. Switzerland
2021 – current: Judge (secondary post) at the Federal Supreme Court. Switzerland
2013 – current: Judge (secondarv post as of 2017, substitute post as of 2013) at the Cantonal Administrative Court, St. Galen, Switzerland
2016 – 2021: Judge at the Rhinevalley District Court, Altstaetten, Switzerland
2016 – 2017: Vice-President (extraordinary post), Swiss Federal Valuation Commission District 10 (ESchK 10) (a special federal administrative court relating to expropriations), Zurich, Switzerland
2007 – 2011: Substitute Judge, District Court (Labour Court), Zurich, Switzerland
(These are/were all part-time posts except for the post at the Rhinevalley District Court.)
Other posts in the judiciary
2015 – 2016: Federal Administrative Court, Registry, Department Legal/Communication, St. Gallen Department Head ad interim, Deputy Department Head, Senior Legal Officer
2008 – 2010: Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Kosovo Trust Agency Related Matters, EULEX Kosovo, Pristina, Kosovo, Legal Officer (seconded)
2004 – 2008: District court, Zurich, Legal Officer, Intern
2001 – 2002: Claims Resolution Tribunal on Dormant Accounts in Switzerland (CRT Il), Zurich, Switzerland, Paralegal (part-time)
2019 – current: Universities in Switzerland (St. Gallen since 2019, Zurich since 2023, Lucerne since 2023) Lecturer (public law, transitional iustice, ethics for judges) (part-time)
2012 – 2015: University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Researcher on court management, court administration, court organisation (part-time)
2011 – 2012: UBS (finance industry), Zurich, Switzerland, Attorney
2003: International Service for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, Intern
2000 – 2001: Hewlett-Packard (IT industry), Urdorf, Switzerland, Legal Adviser (part-time)
1997 – 1999: Hewlett-Packard, Urdorf, Switzerland / Sandton, South Africa, Contracts Co-ordinator (Switzerland: part-time; South Africa: full-time), Sales Assistant (part-time)
Student: I successfully solved a case relating to article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of expression) (Prof. Mark Villiger) and received an award for my paper on “Human Rights and Multinational Corporations” (University of Zurich, upon recommendation of Prof. Daniel Thürer and Prof. Zdzislaw Kedzia).
Judicial work: The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (right to family, rights of the child, right to property, right to due process) is and has been a crucial element of my work in the Swiss (BGer, 5A_93/2022, 20.09.2022; BGer, 5A_617/2021, 13.09.2022; BGer, 5A_202/202113.10.2021, etc.) and Kosovar judiciary.
Lecturer: Human rights law, including the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, is an integral part of my lectures and exercises in public law (freedom of expression, etc.) and transitional justice (denial jurisprudence, etc.).
Author: The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights has been at the core of much of my research and many of my publications (see below), some of which have influenced the jurisdiction of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (see BGer, 1B 420/2022, 09.09.2022).
Pro bono research: I do pro bono research for a small South African public interest law firm (right to die, etc.).
Human rights courses attended: Apart from my formal qualification, I have attended the following courses on human rights law:
None.
2022 – current: Member of the Ethics Commission of the Swiss Judges' Association (SJA).
Furthermore, I am a member of judicial associations, etc. such as the Justice Administration Research Association (JARA).
My ten most important publications (books are underlined) relating to human rights law are the following:
2023
2022
2021
2015
Gerichtsinterne Organisation: Best Practices (In-Court Organisation: Best Practices)
2006
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I confirm that I would follow intensive language classes (French) prior to and during my term of duty, irrespective of whether I meet the level of language proficiency required for the post.
None.
I hereby confirm that t would take up permanent residence in Strasbourg, should I be elected.