Dr.iur. Mārtiņš Mits
Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic Latvia
EDUCATION
2010 LL.D in Public International Law, Lund University (Sweden)
1997 – 1998 LL.M in Human Rights, University of Nottingham (United Kingdom)
1991 – 1995 Lawyer and Bachelor of Law, University of Latvia (Latvia)
WORK EXPERIENCE
Since 2024 Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia
2015 – 2024 Judge of the European Court of Human Rights
2008 – 2015 Prorector, Riga Graduate School of Law
1999 – 2019 Lecturer, Docent, Associate Professor, Riga Graduate School of Law
1995 – 2001 Deputy Director, Acting Director of the Human Rights Institute of the
University of Latvia, Faculty of Law; Chief Editor of
the Latvian Human Rights Quarterly
1993 – 1995 Senior Adviser in the Division of Case-Law and Research, Supreme Court of
the Republic of Latvia
PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT
Since 2024 Substitute member of the Venice Commission
2012 – 2015 and since 2024 Ad hoc Judge in the European Court of Human Rights
Since 2019 Member of the editorial board of the Baltic Yearbook of International Law (Brill)
2010 – 2013 and 2015 – 2018 Expert of the Latvian Council of Science
2007 – 2013 Member of the Constitutional Rights Committee of the President of
the Republic of Latvia
2007 – 2012 Alternate member in the Management Board of the European Union Agency
for Fundamental Rights
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Universities:
2013 – 2015 Master’s course Changing European Human Rights Law,
Deusto University (Spain)
2012 Master’s course International Protection of Human Rights (co-teacher) and
thesis supervision at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
1999 – 2015 Lectures and seminars in Human Rights courses at the
Riga Graduate School of Law; seminars in International Law,
Constitutional Law, International Dispute Settlement courses
2000 – 2002 Assistant Teacher at the University of Latvia in the Online Course on
the International Protection of Human Rights, administered by
the Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University (Finland)
1996 – 2002 Lectures and seminars in Human Rights courses at the University of Latvia;
lectures and seminars in International Law course
International training programmes:
2002 and 2024 Council of Europe expert in the seminar for North Caucasus NGOs (Russia)
and in the Moot Court on Human Rights and Environment for
law students from Central Asia (Kazakhstan)
2005 – 2007 Latvian expert in the European Union EUJUST LEX Senior Management Course
for Iraqi judges, police officers and prison administration (Denmark)
2000 – 2003 Lecturer in the Summer School for lawyers from CIS countries organised by
the Human Rights Institute of the University of Latvia, Faculty of Law (Latvia)
2000 – 2001 Lecturer in training courses for the lawyers from CIS countries organised by
the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and
Humanitarian Law (Sweden)
National training programmes:
Since 1996 Lecturer in human rights training programmes organised by
the Latvian Judicial Training Centre, Riga Graduate School of Law,
and other organisations for various target groups:
Members of the Legal Committee of the Parliament,
judges of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and other courts,
prosecutors, lawyers, representatives of NGOs, journalists, etc.
SELECTED RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2012 – 2016 National contribution in research on EU Member States’ Constitutions and
European Integration – led by the Centre of European Studies,
Salzburg University (Austria)
2013 National contribution in research on the Impact of the European Convention on
Human Rights on the democratic changes and developments in Eastern Europe –
led by Julia Motoc and Ineta Ziemele
2011 – 2015 Senior expert (legal editor) of the national annual reports to the
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
2012 Research on the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on
the case-law of the Latvian Supreme Court –
commissioned by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia
2009 – 2012 National contribution in research Menu for Justice:
Towards a European Curriculum Studiorum on
Judicial Studies – led by Department of Political Science,
University of Bologna (Italy)
2002 – 2009 The Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on
the Development of Legal Doctrine and Application of Legal Norms in Latvia –
doctoral dissertation in Lund University (Sweden)
2006 Visiting researcher (6 months) at the Max Planck Institute for
Comparative Public Law and International Law (Germany)
2004 – 2006 National expert for Guide for the Latvian State Language Centre –
led by the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
“Latvia” – S. Griller, L. Papadopoulou, R. Puff (eds.) National Constitutions and EU Integration, Hart, Oxford, 2022, 401-426.
“Interaction between the Highest National Courts and the European Court of Human Rights: Beyond Judicial Dialogue” – L.A. Sicilianos, I.A. Motoc, R. Spano, R. Chenal (eds.) Intersecting Views on National and International Human Rights Protection, Wolf Legal Publishers, Tilburg, 2019, 589-602.
“Consolidating democratic changes in Latvia: the various roles of the European Convention on Human Rights” – I. Motoc, I. Ziemele (eds.) The Impact of the ECHR on Democratic Change in Central and Eastern Europe: Judicial Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016, 201-233.
Co-author to the commentary on Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (in Latvian), Latvijas Vēstnesis, Riga, 2014, 136-232.
M.Mits. European Convention on Human Rights in Latvia: Impact on Legal Doctrine and Application of Legal Norms, Media Tryck, Lund, 2010, 296.