Human Rights

EC Attempts to Assert Social Role Through Parental Leave

April 26, 2017

As part of European Commission (EC) President Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Pillar of Social Rights initiative designed to demonstrate the EU’s relevance in European social issues, the EC is set to release a “work-life balance proposal” that could significantly increase business obligations toward employees.
CoE Commissioner Criticizes Ireland on Abortion Laws

April 19, 2017

The Council of Europe’s (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has released a report calling on the government of Ireland to significantly expand abortion rights in order to protect human rights and reflect “changing social attitudes” in the country.
CoE Committee Demands French Prison Reform

April 12, 2017

The Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has issued a report condemning the treatment of inmates at French prisons and calling on the French government to make specific reforms in line with recommendations.
ECtHR Awards Remedy in Absence of Proper Claim

April 05, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that, in "exceptional circumstances" involving "serious" violations of European human rights law, it can award a remedy to a person it determines is a victim of such a violation even when that person fails to properly make a claim to the body for "just satisfaction."
Professor: Brexit Could Worsen “Modern Slavery” in UK

April 05, 2017

Professor Andrew Crane of the University of Bath has warned that the decrease in legal immigration to the UK as a result of the country leaving the EU will likely increase demand for trafficked labor and contribute to other exploitive business practices.
EU Agency Seeks "Binding" Social Rights Law

April 04, 2017

At a meeting in Malta, Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights asserted that "income inequality" poses a threat to the fundamental rights of Europeans and pushed for the development of an expansive, "legally-binding" European Pillar of Social Rights.to combat "social exclusion" across the EU.
ECtHR: Moscow Airport Confinement Violated Rights

April 03, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Russia's confinement of asylum seekers in the transit zone of an airport for periods ranging from five months to two years without access to regular sleeping, bathing, and cooking facilities had "made them feel humiliated and debased" and therefore violated their rights against "inhuman or degrading treatment."
EU, NGOs Create New Plan for "Social Rights"

March 31, 2017

Academics Claire Kilpatrick, Elise Muir, and Sacha Garben outline how EU institutions are consulting with nongovernmental organizations to shape legislation called the European Pillar of Social Rights into "a vehicle for a wide range of proposals on resetting Social Europe" and call for the development of the Pillar to be based on the principle of "social justice."
CoE Body Issues Standards on Migrant Detention

March 28, 2017

The Council of Europe's (CoE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has issued a "factsheet" of Europe-wide standards on acceptable practices in detaining "irregular migrants," stating that the automatic detention of migrants who have broken a country's immigration law violates European human rights provisions.
ECtHR: Enhanced Prison Measures Violated Man's Rights

March 28, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Poland violated the rights of a prisoner whom authorities placed in a "dangerous detainee" regime due to his violent behavior toward guards because the regime's strip search and shackling requirements constituted "inhuman or degrading treatment."