http://dx.doi.org/10.59704/55184a96adabe0b0 https://verfassungsblog.de/constitutional-identity-vs-human-rights/ Constitutional Identity vs. Human Rights - The ECtHR's Bizarre Turn in Three Latvian Cases Ganty, Sarah Kochenov, Dimitry Vladimirovich Nugraha, Ignatius Yordan eng 2023-12-21 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Constitutional Identity European Court of Human Rights Minority Protection minority rights Proportionality Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 In two recent Latvian cases concerning the Russian-speaking minority decided respectively in September and November 2023, the ECtHR made clear that protection of constitutional identity has now been elevated to a legitimate aim for a differential treatment under the Convention. This post explores how the protection of constitutional identity has been deployed to enable a collective punishment by association with a former occupier, and how the ECtHR’s reasoning has effectively endorsed such a punishment, which is unbefitting of a liberal democratic system the ECHR aspires to represent. Until the three cases were decided, no liberal European democracy could argue without losing face that suppressing a large proportion of its population was its constitutional identity – one of the goals of its statehood. Today, this claim is seemingly kosher, marking a U-turn in the understanding of what the European human rights protection system is for minorities in Europe.