The three Baltic countries, or the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – are held to have continued as legal entities under international law while under the Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991, as well as during the German occupation in 1941–1944/1945. The prevailing opinion accepts the Baltic thesis of illegal occupation and the actions of the USSR are regarded as contrary to international law in general and to the bilateral treaties between the USSR and the three Baltic countries in particular.
Articles 4 and 114 of the Constitution of Latvia form the foundation for language policy in Latvia, declaring Latvian to be the official state language and affirming the rights of ethnic minorities to preserve and develop their languages. Livonian language is recognized as "the language of the indigenous (autochthon) population" in the Official Language Law, but Latgalian written language is protected as "a historic variant of Latvian." All other languages are considered foreign by the Law on State Language. Latvia provides national minority education programmes in Russian, Polish, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Estonian, Lithuanian, and Belarusian.
Julia Laffranque, is an Estonian jurist, judge, legal scientist, visiting professor of European law Justice at the Supreme Court of Estonia, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights 2011 - 2020. Since 4 June 2018 also a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency, earlier professor of European law at the University of Tartu. Since 2020 member of the Board of Trustees, the Foundation Academy of European Law Trier. In 2019 she was a candidate for the post of European Ombudsman. In 2020 she was appointed as Director of Programme of the European Law Academy (ERA) and in 2021 the Council of the European Union on the proposal of European Parliament by 586 votes in favor, appointed her as a member of Article 255 TFEU panel, which is to give opinion on candidates suitability to perform the duties of judge and advocate general of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union.
Martin Scheinin is an international law scholar who served as the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism in 2005–2011. He was selected for this position after serving for eight years (1997–2004) as member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the independent expert body monitoring states' compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. While on the committee, he was known as a defendant of the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples and opponent of capital punishment, as well as the drafter of the committee's General Comment No. 29 on states of emergency.
Human rights in Latvia are generally respected by the government, according to the US Department of State and Freedom House. Latvia is ranked above-average among the world's sovereign states in democracy, press freedom, privacy and human development. The country has a relatively large ethnic Russian community, which has basic rights guaranteed under the constitution and international human rights laws ratified by the Latvian government.
The Riga Graduate School of Law in Riga, Latvia is an autonomous law school in the Baltic region offering Bachelor, Master and Doctoral studies. It was established in 1998 through an international agreement between the Governments of Sweden and Latvia and the Soros Foundation.
Iulia Antoanella Motoc is a Romanian judge and international law expert, currently a Judge at the European Court of Human Rights and a professor at the University of Bucharest. Before beginning her service at the Court, she served as a Judge at the Constitutional Court of Romania. Motoc was UN Special Rapporteur for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and she chaired a number of international experts bodies and was Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Committee. On 1 October 2013, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe elected Motoc a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights with respect to Romania. She received an absolute majority of votes cast by parliamentarians. Her nine-year term of office began on 18 December 2013. In August 2021, she was elected as a member of the Institut de Droit International. On 28 March 2023, following a selection process, she was chosen by the Romanian Government to be Romania's candidate for the post of Judge at the International Criminal Court.
Andrejeva v. Latvia (55707/00) was a case decided by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in 2009. It concerned ex parte proceedings and discrimination in calculating retirement pensions for non-citizens of Latvia.
Anita Ušacka is a Latvian and international judge and legal academic. She has been a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and of the Trial and Appeals Divisions of the International Criminal Court (ICC). She was President of the Appeals Division of the International Criminal Court in 2011/2012. She retired in 2015.
Lech (Leszek) Garlicki is a Polish jurist and constitutional law specialist. Since 1988 he has been a professor at the Warsaw University, in the years 1993–2001 judge of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland and in the years 2001–2002 president of the Polish Society of Constitutional Law. Between 2002 and 2012 he was a judge of European Court of Human Rights.
Ledi Bianku was a judge at the European Court of Human Rights, elected in respect of Albania on 1 February 2008.
Alvina Gyulumyan is an Armenian judge born in the village of Shaumyan in Azerbaijan's Dashkesan region and currently Judge at the Constitutional Court of Armenia. From April 2003 to 1 November 2014 she was the Judge of European Court of Human Rights in respect of Armenia. According to the Decree of the President of Armenia on 23 April 1998, Alvina Gyulumyan was awarded The High Judicial Qualification of a Judge. Alvina Gyulumyan is married and has one daughter A.S.
András Sajó is a Hungarian legal academic and former European Court of Human Rights judge.
Ganna (Anna) Yuriyivna Yudkivska is a Ukrainian lawyer and judge. She was the judge of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Ukraine in 2010-2022. She is a Member of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Tim Eicke is a German-born British barrister and Judge of the European Court of Human Rights.
Síofra O’Leary is an Irish lawyer and judge who has served as President of the European Court of Human Rights since November 2022 and as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights since July 2015. She previously served as a Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights in 2022.
Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer is a jurist and a current judge of the European Court of Human Rights for Austria.
Ksenija Turković is a Croatian jurist and current vice-president and was judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Ana Maria Guerra Martins is a Portuguese jurist and a judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
Marko Bošnjak is a Slovenian jurist, judge of the European Court of Human Rights, attorney and academic. He has worked as a researcher and lecturer before becoming an attorney and subsequently a judge. Bošnjak’s mandate as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights began on 30 May 2016. In 2022, he became the Vice-President of the Court.
