Human Rights

Dutch Court Finds Rights Obligation to Tackle Global Warming

October 17, 2018

A Dutch appeals court has struck a blow for the global litigation strategy to impose human rights obligations on businesses and states to tackle climate change by finding that the European Convention on Human Rights requires the Dutch government to reduce carbon emissions by at least 25 percent by the year 2020.
ECJ Warns of Discrimination in Firing by Religious Hospital

September 11, 2018

Deutsche Welle reports that the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has pointed to “hidden discrimination” in the firing of a doctor by a Catholic German hospital due to the hospital’s finding that the doctor had violated his faith by remarrying, setting up a possible conflict between EU and German laws on religious employers.
Study: OSCE Training Increased Ukrainian Judiciary’s Use of ECHR

September 04, 2018

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has cited analysis from the Institute of Applied Humanitarian Research indicating that Ukrainian judges who attended OSCE trainings on the application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) were far more likely following the training to refer to the ECHR in their judgments.
EU Agency Seeks Removal of Free-Movement Restrictions

August 31, 2018

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has published a report calling on national governments in the EU to halt restrictions on employment, housing, and education access of EU migrants to facilitate Europeans’ free-movement rights and pushing countries to ease EU migrants’ access to the polls by “removing administrative barriers such as proof of residence.”
CoE Body Criticizes Switzerland over Political Funding

August 15, 2018

In a recent report, the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Group of States against Corruption has expressed its “regret” that the Swiss federal government has declined to implement the CoE body’s recommendations on increasing the transparency of party and election campaign funding in the country.
ECtHR Begins Accepting Advisory Opinion Requests

August 06, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has announced that Protocol No. 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights entered into force at the beginning of August, permitting the top courts of the 10 ratifying member states to submit requests to the ECtHR for advisory opinions on the interpretation of the Convention.
ECJ Identifies Barriers to Compliance with Arrest Warrants

August 06, 2018

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has held that, in order to reject the execution of a European Arrest Warrant issued by another EU member state, the court receiving it must determine both that there is a risk of breach of the right to a fair trial in the issuing state and that this risk specifically applies to the person who is the subject of the warrant.
Lawyers: UK Deportation Decision Violates ECHR

August 06, 2018

The Telegraph reports that a group of UK legal experts have deemed a decision by the UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid to deport two Islamic State suspects to the US without assurances that they will not be subject to the death penalty unlawful and likely to be reversed under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
EU Parliament Adopts Resolution on Indigenous Rights, Business Conduct

August 03, 2018

The Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organization highlights its contribution to a resolution recently adopted by the European Parliament calling on EU bodies and EU member states to protect the rights of indigenous peoples across the globe through measures including considering indigenous rights impacts of trade deals and corporate liability for foreign conduct.
CoE Official Seeks Alleviation of Inequality as a Rights Issue

August 03, 2018

The Council of Europe’s (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović argues that European countries must implement the “economic, social, and cultural rights agenda,” along with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in establishing policies such as the “universal basic income” concept to reduce poverty and economic inequality.