Human Rights

ECtHR: Latvia Failed to Alleviate Disabled Prisoner's Isolation

November 13, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently held that a Latvian prison had violated a deaf and mute prisoner's right against inhuman and degrading treatment by failing to provide him enough personal space and causing feelings of "anguish" and "inferiority" by not providing him adequate ways to communicate.
CoE Official Seeks Revision of Russian Laws on Public Events

October 25, 2017

The Council of Europe's (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has published a memorandum calling for the "thorough revision" of Russian laws he says interfere with the freedom of assembly to take into account international human rights standards.
CoE Pushes Countries to End Child Migrant Detention

October 20, 2017

As the Council of Europe (CoE) seeks to pressure countries to adopt its Action Plan in Protecting Migrant and Refugee Children, the regional organization hosted a conference in Prague pushing governments to end the detention of migrant children and to search for alternatives to the practice.
ECtHR: Spanish "Collective Expulsion" Violated Rights

October 20, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Spain violated the rights of two people attempting to enter its territory by "expelling" them - even if, as Spain argued, the migrants had not yet entered Spanish territory when they were apprehended - without permitting them any judicial or administrative remedy.
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.