Human Rights

ECtHR: Russia Failed to Review Electoral Irregularities

August 02, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the Russian authorities failed to seriously review the alleged manipulation of city and state election results in St. Petersburg in 2011, finding that the voiding of over 50,000 votes and discrepancies between voting counts justified an investigation to satisfy the complainants' right to free elections.
ECtHR: Spain Violated Privacy Rights in Child Pornography Investigation

August 02, 2017

In a May judgment, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that Spanish law enforcement authorities had violated a man's privacy rights by searching his computer, which was given to them by a computer technician who had discovered child pornography among its files, prior to obtaining authorization from a judge.
ECtHR: Lithuanian Life Sentences Violate Rights

August 02, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that various measures permitting the review in Lithuania of prisoners' life sentences for aggravated offenses, including a presidential pardon process, did not allow these prisoners a sufficient prospect of release as required by European human rights law.
UK Governing Party Delays Human Rights Reform

July 31, 2017

The Daily Telegraph reports that, in the lead-up to the British general election in June, the currently governing Conservative Party asserted in its manifesto that it would only consider repealing the UK Human Rights Act, which transposes the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic law, after the country leaves the EU.
UK Pushes Back on Post-Brexit ECJ Role in Britain

July 26, 2017

The BBC reports that UK Brexit Secretary David Davis is pushing back on demands by the European Parliament's top Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, and other EU officials that, following Brexit, the UK subordinate its courts to the authority of the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) on issues relating to the rights of EU citizens.
ECJ: Parent of EU Citizen Has Brought Right to Remain

July 24, 2017

EUobserver reports on a recent ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) in which the Court held that a parent who is the main caregiver to a child who is an EU citizen has the right to remain in the bloc, as that parent's removal from the EU could require their child to leave and lose access to EU rights and benefits.
CoE Committee Criticizes Austrian Minority Policies

July 21, 2017

The Council of Europe’s (CoE) Advisory Committee to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has criticized Austria for its "inconsistent," non-centralized approach to the legal protection of a wide range of listed national ethnic minorities, including the lack of a central mandate on bilingualism.
CoE Body Weighs in on Pretrial Detention

July 20, 2017

The Council of Europe's (CoE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture has called for countries to hold people charged with crimes in detention while they await trial only when "absolutely necessary" and to use alternative measures in all other cases to prevent prison overcrowding.
UK Brexit Bill Rejects EU Rights Charter

July 19, 2017

The Guardian reports that the British Government's EU (withdrawal) bill specifically rejects the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in the UK after Brexit, reflecting concerns of some observers that continued application of the Charter would permit the Court of Justice of the EU to maintain jurisdiction in Britain.
UK Conservatives Drop ECtHR Pledge

July 19, 2017

The International Business Times reports that, prior to the country's general election in June, the ruling UK Conservative Party dropped its pledge to loosen or cut ties with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the near future to make room for the time required for Brexit negotiations.