31/10/2022 (Agence Europe) – The first woman to become President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Síofra O’Leary from Ireland, will take up her post on Tuesday 1 November. Elected on 19 September (see EUROPE 13024/19), she succeeds Iceland’s Robert Spanó, who has lead the institution since May 2020. She has been a judge at the ECHR since 2015 and Vice-President since January 2022, and she will hold her new position for a period of three years. The President begins her term of office at a complex time for the Court, marked in particular by Russia’s exit from the European Convention on Human Rights on 16 September and the increasing difficulty of enforcing its judgments (see EUROPE 12923/29). (HS)