Human Rights

EU Advances Ban on Broad Range of Plastic Items

January 11, 2019

Politico reports that negotiators from the European Parliament and European Council have reached an agreement to advance a “single-use plastics directive,” which will ban, beginning in 2021, broad categories of plastic items, including straws, plates, cutlery, and drinking cups made from a certain type of plastic, from circulation in the EU.
ECtHR Approves Mandatory School Attendance Rules in Germany

January 11, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the removal of children from their parents’ home in Germany to receive temporary, government-approved education due to the parents’ refusal to send their children to state-run schools complied with European human rights law on the protection of private and family life.
ECtHR: Latvian Prison Policies Discriminate on Basis of Sex

January 11, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Latvian authorities had violated the rights of a male prisoner to respect for his private life and against discrimination by failing to consider relevant factors in deciding whether to grant him leave to attend his father’s funeral, finding that the authorities treat female prisoners in a less restrictive manner.
Lawyer: “No-Deal” Brexit Risks Right to Life in UK

January 09, 2019

The Independent reports that UK human rights lawyer Jonathan Cooper has asserted that the withdrawal of the UK from the EU without establishing terms of the separation would be in violation of the UK’s international human rights treaty obligations because such a move would expose British citizens to the risk of death.
Legal Expert Pushes ECtHR to Overturn Blasphemy Decision

January 08, 2019

Constitutional law expert Dr. Tommaso Virgili calls on the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to overturn a decision upholding Austria’s right to convict a woman over insulting comments about Islam’s prophet Muhammad, presenting extensive arguments against the enforcement of laws against “blasphemy” in Europe.
ECtHR: Spain’s Expulsion of Drug Traffickers Violated Rights

January 03, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Spanish courts had violated the “right to respect for private and family life” by approving the expulsion of two Moroccan nationals convicted of drug trafficking without performing an “adequate appraisal” of criteria related to the seriousness of their offenses and their personal lives.
ECtHR: Lithuania Violated Rights of Family Applying for Asylum

December 19, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Lithuanian authorities violated the rights against torture and to an effective remedy of seven members of a Russian family by denying them the ability to make an asylum application at the country’s border with Belarus.
ECtHR: Prosecutor’s Dismissal for Media Statement Violated Rights

December 19, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the Romanian government violated the right to free expression of a prosecutor it dismissed for talking to the press about an ongoing criminal investigation.
CoE Anti-Torture Body Critiques Northern Ireland’s Prisons

December 18, 2018

The Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture has called for Northern Ireland to make “further progress” in complying with CoE rules against ill-treatment in prisons, including by ramping up the use of alternatives to custody and giving prisoners more time outside their cells.
EU Agency Calls for Embedding Rights Agenda in Border Guard

December 18, 2018

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has issued an opinion calling for a revision in the regulation governing the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency to strengthen fundamental rights observance, including by performing impact assessments when working with external countries, to mainstream the European rights agenda at the agency.