Françoise Tulkens

Françoise, Baroness Tulkens (born 12 September 1942) is a Belgian lawyer and expert in criminal and penal law, and former vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights. She served as a member of the Court since 1998, Section President since 2007, and vice-president from February 2011 until her term ended in 2012.

Tulkens was born in Brussels, the capital of Belgium.^[1] She studied law, earning a doctorate in 1965 and practising at the Bar until 1968, when she was appointed Research Fellow with the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique).^[2] She was awarded the agrégation (higher education teaching qualification) in 1976 and the same year took up a post as Professor of Law in the Université catholique de Louvain^[2] (French-speaking Catholic University of Louvain at Louvain-la-Neuve), where she remained until her appointment as a permanent judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.^[1]

Alongside her post at the Université catholique de Louvain, Tulkens served as Chairwoman of the Scientific Committee of the European Law-making Research Group (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris) from 1993 to 1998 and editor-in-chief of the journal, Revue internationale de droit pénal, from 1994 to 1998. From 1996 to 1997, she was an Expert for the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.^[1] She has also been a visiting professor at the Universities of Geneva, Ottawa, Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) and Rennes.^[1][2]

On 1 November 1998, Tulkens became a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Belgium. She was elected a Section President in 2007 and on 1 February 2011 became one of two vice-presidents of the Court, along with the British judge, Sir Nicolas Bratza, and under French President Jean-Paul Costa.^[1] She retired from the European Court in September 2012 and was appointed a member of the Human Rights Advisory Panel^[3] of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. In 2019, Tulkens was appointed to the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, chaired by Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury.^[4]

In 2021, Tulkens was the president of the Turkey Tribunal held in Geneva, Switzerland along with 5 other reputable international jurists.^[5]

• European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Member^[6]
• King Baudouin Foundation, chair of the Board of Governors^[7]

• Commander of the Order of the Crown.

• Conferred the noble title of Baroness in the Belgian nobility.

• Website of the European Court of Human Rights