Human Rights

ECtHR: Countries Must Recognize Gay Marriages Contracted Abroad

January 08, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Italy violated the rights of same-sex couples to respect for private and family life by failing "to take account of their social reality" in refusing to recognize marriages they had contracted abroad.
CoE Official Demands Recognition of "Sexual Rights"

January 04, 2018

The Council of Europe's (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has issued a report demanding that CoE members address "shortcomings" in their recognition of European and international human rights standards on "sexual and reproductive health rights," including access to abortion and "comprehensive sexuality education."
UK Politicians Plan Vote to Retain EU Charter Rights

January 03, 2018

The Guardian reports on plans of the UK Labour Party to force a vote in the British Parliament pressuring the government to retain all provisions of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, including employment rights and the "right to equality," in British law after Brexit.
ECtHR Recognizes Right to Wear Skullcap in Court

January 02, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently held that a Bosnian court had violated a Muslim witness's right to manifest his religion by convicting him of contempt of court for refusing to remove his religious skullcap during legal proceedings.
Academic Welcomes "Flexible" ECtHR Approach in Georgia

January 02, 2018

Professor Philip Leach of Middlesex University welcomes a recent holding of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in which it used a "more flexible, contextual approach" than in past cases to find that the Georgian government had violated a politician's right against "misuse of power" by removing him from his cell and improperly threatening him after his arrest.
CoE Official Calls for Gender Strategy in Liechtenstein

December 21, 2017

In his report on Liechtenstein, the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks called on the country's government to adopt a "national gender equality strategy" to ensure the equal treatment of men and women, including by improving access to abortion and considering quotas for women in politics.
Ukraine Opposes CoE Reconciliation with Russia

December 21, 2017

RFERL reports that Ukraine's representation to the Council of Europe (CoE) is opposing reported attempts by the CoE Secretary-General to convince countries to restore to Russia its voting rights in the CoE's Parliamentary Assembly out of fear that, if it can no longer vote, Russia will withdraw from the international body.
ECtHR: University Lecture Surveillance Violated Privacy Rights

December 21, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held in November that video surveillance of public lectures at the University of Montenegro with the knowledge of the lecturers but without their consent unlawfully interfered with the lecturers' right to privacy.
NGOs Call for Expansive Rights Agenda in Southern Europe

December 20, 2017

Representatives from a group of civil society organizations at a recent event hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee called for greater rights protections in Europe’s Mediterranean Basin, including greater support for migrants, increased protections for women, and better "social protection" for residents.
ECtHR: Romania Violated Ill Prisoner's Right to Dignity

December 20, 2017

In a November judgment, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that Romanian authorities had failed to take into account proper "humanitarian considerations" by keeping a man with terminal metastatic prostate cancer in prison and had violated European human rights law by preventing the prisoner "from spending his final days in dignity."