Human Rights

CoE Official Warns of Migrant, Social Rights Violations in Greece

July 16, 2018

Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović has called on CoE members to address the ongoing arrival of migrants in Greece “in a spirit of collective responsibility and solidarity” and warned of the impact of “austerity” measures on the social and economic rights of the country’s citizens.
ECtHR: Russia Violated Prisoners’ Right to Compensation

July 16, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Russian courts violated the rights of two complainants to compensation by awarding them a low level of damages to compensate them for extra time they spent in prison.
ECtHR: Russia Failed to Comply with Ruling on Prisoners’ Family Rights

July 16, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the Russian government failed to reform its practice of interfering with the ability of prisoners to maintain contact with their families by sending them to far-away prisons in response to a 2017 ECtHR judgment, and that Russia offered no effective remedy to challenge such policies.
ECtHR: Turkey Complied with Rights Law in Disbanding Kurdish Group

July 16, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently held that Turkish authorities had complied with European human rights law when they dissolved a Kurdish foundation whose covert aim was to establish a “theocratic totalitarian” Kurdish State based on sharia law in Turkey.
EC Challenges Polish Law on Judges’ Retirement

July 13, 2018

The European Commission (EC) has launched legal proceedings challenging a recently passed Polish law lowering the mandatory retirement age of judges on the country’s Supreme Court from 70 to 65, while giving the President the opportunity to extend their terms, on the ground that the law is a threat to judicial independence.
Lawyer: EU Procurement Rules Could Support Foreign Lawsuits

July 12, 2018

Eamonn Conlon of the law firm A&L Goodbody asserts that the 2014 EU Procurement Directives, as transposed into the national laws of EU members, could be the basis for a cause of action against companies that have procurement contracts with governments for labor rights abuses in foreign countries.
CoE Launches Five-Year Gender Equality Strategy

June 28, 2018

At a conference in Copenhagen in May, the Council of Europe (CoE) launched a Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023 "to remove barriers in achieving substantive and full gender equality" between men and women across Europe.
ECJ: Entry Ban Cannot Trump Family Unification Rights

June 27, 2018

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) recently ruled that an EU member state may only enforce an entry ban against a non-EU national on public policy grounds once it has considered the national's request to remain in the EU with a family member who is an EU citizen.
CoE Meeting Explores "Harmful Gender Stereotypes"

June 26, 2018

The Council of Europe (CoE) recently co-organized a "Barbershop" event for men in Strasbourg to determine "how men can join women in advancing gender equality and combat sexism" by recognizing and challenging "harmful gender stereotypes," including views on "manhood and masculinity."
Facebook Offers Users Opt-outs to Comply with GDPR

June 05, 2018

NPR reports that the social media giant Facebook is planning to offer opt-outs for users permitting them to avoid features that could expose their personal data in a move toward compliance with the EU's globally applicable General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).