The European Court of Human Rights held an annual conference for the contact points of the highest courts of the Council of Europe member states from June 6-7. The Supreme Court of Iceland is part of the High Courts Network, which the Court established in 2015 to facilitate more effective communication with the courts of the member states. The Court of Human Rights regularly sends requests for explanations of national legislation and practice for comparative investigations and, in the same way, the courts of the member states can send information requests to the Court of Human Rights.

The conference was attended by the Supreme Court, by the assistant judge Linda Ramdani, and by the National Court, Sigfríð Elín Þorvaldsdóttir, assistant judge. The conference was opened by the President of the Court of Human Rights, Siofra O’Leary, who discussed recent decisions of the Supreme Court’s Climate Division. There were further lectures on the decisions, as well as lectures and discussions on the case law of the courts of the member states in similar cases. Participants were then assigned to working groups to discuss the relationship between the highest courts and the public and media and related challenges. The Icelandic contact points were also welcomed by the Court of Human Rights Judge Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir and Auður Tinna Aðalbjarnardóttir, lawyers for the Court of Justice, who presented the Court’s activities and the premises.