Caster Semenya has won in her case before The Grand Chamber of the European Court Of Human Rights.
Image of Schona Jolly KC and Claire McCann
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, in its landmark Judgment delivered today (see here), has found in favour of Caster Semenya in her long-running sports and human rights case, concluding that her rights under Article 6(1) of the Convention had been violated because she did not get a fair hearing in Switzerland.
A Press Release has been issued on behalf of Caster Semenya: see here.
Cloisters barristers Schona Jolly KC and Claire McCann appeared before the Grand Chamber for Mokgadi Caster Semenya who is a South African female elite athlete. She is a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the women’s 800m.
The Grand Chamber Judgment marks the culmination of Caster Semenya’s fifteen-year battle for dignity and equality and the rights of women in sport, in which she has challenged Regulations implemented by World Athletics. These prevented her from competing in any “relevant events” in the women’s category (including the 800m and 1500m, the very distances in which she specialises) unless she reduced her natural testosterone level by otherwise unnecessary medical interventions (requiring medication or even surgery).
Caster Semenya’s legal actions before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (in 2019) and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court were rejected (in 2020). Her legal team filed an application to the European Court of Human Rights on her behalf early in 2021 and, in July 2023, the Chamber concluded that Switzerland had failed in its positive obligations to provide a system of institutional and procedural safeguards to protect against violations of Ms Semenya’s fundamental rights and freedoms under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Switzerland’s request for a referral to the Grand Chamber was permitted and an oral Hearing took place on 15 May 2024 before 17 Judges of the Court in Strasbourg. The final judgment has now been delivered. See here for the Court’s press release today and the official webcast of the hearing on 15 May 2024 can be viewed here.
There has been broad international press coverage:
Schona Jolly KC and Claire McCann are instructed in this significant case by Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers, Gregory Nott and Patrick Bracher in Johannesburg and Christian Dargham in Paris, working alongside Toronto-based lawyers, James Bunting and Carlos Sayao of Tyr LLP who complete the team.
