Human Rights

EU Pushes Privacy Rights in Travel Alert System

January 13, 2017

The European Commission has issued a proposal to "strengthen" the Schengen Information System, an information sharing system for border authorities in the passport-free Schengen Area, to more effectively fight terrorism by, in part, bolstering data protection for travelers in line with the "fundamental right" to privacy identified in EU treaties.
UK Policy Shifts Toward Leaving ECtHR

January 04, 2017

The Telegraph reports that sources within UK Prime Minister Theresa May's government have indicated her plans to include in her party's platform for the 2020 general election a pledge to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
ECtHR: Italy Violated Rights of Detained Migrants

January 02, 2017

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Italy violated the rights to liberty and security of a group of Tunisian migrants the country held on the island of Lampedusa in 2011 and subsequently returned to Tunisia.
EU Committee Approves Strengthened Asylum Entity

December 30, 2016

The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee has approved a proposal to further centralize EU refugee rules by creating an EU Agency for Asylum that will monitor the refugee policies and practices of national governments and implement a complaint mechanism headed by a Fundamental Rights Officer.
EU Agency Seeks Rights-Based Revision of Migration Rules

December 21, 2016

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has issued two opinions requested by the European Parliament on including a human rights-based approach to the process of revising EU regulations on where migrants from non-EU countries should be settled.
ECtHR: Belgian Deportation Decision Was "Inhuman" Treatment

December 20, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has concluded that Belgian authorities violated the rights of a man, who was convicted of robbery and of participating in a criminal organization, against inhuman or degrading treatment and to respect for private and family life by deciding to deport him to Georgia without considering the effects of the move on his health and family.
ECtHR: Hungarian Pension Reform Violated Rights

December 20, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has held that Hungarian legislation amending the eligibility of those receiving disability-related social-security benefits had caused a woman who had lost her pension under the law "to bear an excessive individual burden" and thereby had violated her right to protection of property.
CoE Official Seeks NHRI Review of Terror Laws

December 13, 2016

Criticizing attempts by governments to fight terrorism at the expense of international human rights standards, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks calls on countries to bolster the work of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in reviewing counter-terrorism legislation and investigating complaints regarding law enforcement activity.
EU Releases Guidance on Returning Migrants

December 12, 2016

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has released "practical guidance" on how EU member states must train officials operating beyond the EU's external borders to take into account international human rights law in determining whether to permit migrants to enter their territory or to turn them back to their home countries.
EU Agency Trains Greece on Migration Rights

December 12, 2016

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Greek Ministry of Migration Policy under which the FRA will share "best practices" with Greece on fundamental rights relating to migration and, with the UN Refugee Agency, will train Greek migration staff on their fundamental rights obligations toward migrants.