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ECJ Permits Lithuania to Make TV Station Pay-per-View
July 17, 2019
The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has upheld a decision by Lithuanian authorities to require broadcasters to charge customers a fee to watch a Russian-language television station due to that station’s broadcast of material that constitutes “incitement to hostility to and hatred of the Baltic States on grounds of nationality.”
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ECtHR: Drunk-Driving Test with Catheter Violated Rights
July 02, 2019
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Hungarian police officers’ use of a catheter to extract and test urine of a man suspected of driving while intoxicated - arguably without his consent and after the officers had taken his blood sample - violated the man’s right against inhuman or degrading treatment.
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ECtHR: Continuous Surveillance Violated Russian Prisoners’ Rights
July 02, 2019
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that permanent video surveillance by Russian prisons of various prisoners in their cells without any procedural limits on prison authorities violated the prisoners’ right to “respect for private life.”
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CoE Readmittance of Russia Splits Rights Activists
June 27, 2019
Deutsche Welle reports on the debate among human rights activists over the merits of the decision to restore Russian voting rights at the Council of Europe (CoE), with supporters hailing the move as a way to continue holding Russia accountable for rights violations and critics pointing to the CoE’s lack of influence over the Kremlin.
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Observers Fault CoE Body for Concession to Russia
June 26, 2019
Aaron Rhodes and Willy Fautré write that the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) to readmit Russia in spite of the failure of the Russian government to withdraw from Ukrainian territory sacrifices human rights “on the altar of a geopolitical agenda.”
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ECtHR: Bosnia’s Detention of Syrian Man Violated Rights
June 25, 2019
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Bosnia and Herzegovina had violated the right to liberty and security of a Syrian national it held in detention and attempted to deport for several years because it must have been clear to authorities that no safe country would admit the man, who was classified as a national security risk.
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EU Regulation Imposes Transparency Mandate on Tech Companies
June 19, 2019
The EU institutions have passed a regulation requiring tech companies to provide “transparent terms and conditions” to business customers on online platforms and to offer “effective possibilities of redress,” including an internal mechanism for handling complaints, when these terms are violated.
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UK Official Seeks EU-Wide Approach to Post-Brexit Citizens’ Rights
June 19, 2019
The Guardian reports that the UK’s Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has urged the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to rethink his refusal to “ring-fence” citizens’ rights from the remainder of the UK-EU withdrawal deal to ensure their protection in the event the UK leaves the bloc without an agreement.
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EU Bodies Introduce Minimum Workers’ Rights
June 19, 2019
The EU institutions have agreed a set of “minimum rights” for workers across the bloc, imposing new requirements on employers, especially those operating in the budding gig economy, to inform workers of their working conditions and introducing new labor rights such as the right to take a second job.
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CoE Official Demands Respect for Migrants’ Rights
June 19, 2019
The Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović has published a report containing 35 recommendations on how states must bolster their efforts to rescue migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea and respect the human rights of such migrants once they have reached the shores of Europe.