Human Rights

CoE Calls for Constraints on Migrant Age Assessments

October 18, 2017

The Council of Europe (CoE) has published a review of migrant age assessments in the body's member states, calling on governments always to apply any "margin of error" in such assessments in favor of the migrant, to avoid any "invasive methods" to determine the person's age, and to always obtain the subject's consent before the assessment.
EU Agency: Migrants Need Stronger Complaint Mechanisms

October 18, 2017

In a study on migrant "reception centres" in several European countries, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights called on governments to uphold fundamental rights standards by establishing an "independent oversight body" and "strong complaint mechanisms" for migrants at these locations.
ECtHR Faces Struggle Implementing Judgments

October 16, 2017

Politico reports that, according to a database maintained by the Council of Europe, member governments across the region have not implemented nearly 10,000 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), with unresolved cases stretching back as far as 1992.
EU Parliament: Denial of Abortion Is "Violence"

October 06, 2017

Marie Smith of the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues writes that the European Parliament, in approving the EU's accession to a treaty aimed at preventing domestic violence, has adopted a report classifying the denial of "sexual and reproductive health rights and services," including abortion, as "a form of violence against women and girls."
Academic: Brexit Bill Subjects Social Rights to "Politics"

September 22, 2017

The Independent reports that Dr. Tobias Lock of Edinburgh University has highlighted the extent to which EU provisions on social rights currently trump UK law by warning that the UK "repeal" bill transferring EU rules into British law will give government officials the authority to change or eliminate certain European employment and other standards.
UK Tribunal Refers Data Retention Case to ECJ

September 20, 2017

The Register reports that the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which considers legal issues concerning the country's intelligence agencies, has referred a complaint over the bulk retention of communications data by British agencies to the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) for a decision on the compliance of the UK system with EU law.
CoE Anti-Torture Committee Urges Italian Prison Reform

September 19, 2017

The Council of Europe's (CoE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has released a report critiquing elements of the Italian penitentiary system it believes violate previous CoE recommendations, European Court of Human Rights case law, and the 1984 UN Convention on Torture.
NGOs: EU Energy Plan Should Consider Social Costs

September 19, 2017

Nongovernmental organization participants on the European Economic and Social Committee have expressed concern over the European Commission's proposed Clean Energy for All Europeans package, which they predict may put 50 million Europeans at risk of “energy poverty.”
NGO Urges Social Worker Use of Rights Law

September 14, 2017

Helen Wildbore of the British Institute of Human Rights writes on how British social workers should expand their use of the UK Human Rights Act, a law that effectively transposes the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, in the country's courts to help further the "dignity and respect" of their clients.
ECtHR: Businesses Must Respect Employee Privacy

September 06, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the Romanian courts failed to uphold an employee's right to privacy by permitting a company that had secretly monitored the employee's communications to fire him due to the company's discovery that he had sent personal messages during work hours.