Human Rights

CoE Official: Increase Migrants' Access to "Social Rights"

November 30, 2016

In a recent comment, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks calls on European governments to avoid "undermining" international human rights law by adopting restrictive immigration policies and to offer "irregular migrants" access to various economic and social rights.
ECtHR: Dismissal of Judge Violated Right to "Private Life"

November 30, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has held that Hungary's dismissal of the Vice-President of its Constitutional Court, as part of the country's constitutional reforms of 2012, violated his right under European human rights law to respect for his private life.
FRA Pushes "Rights" Agenda in EU Security Efforts

November 22, 2016

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) recently hosted a meeting of EU leaders to discuss how to integrate the global human rights agenda in the supranational organization's efforts to build a centralized "security union."
CoE Body Criticizes Hungary's Migrant Detention Practices

November 09, 2016

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has issued a report listing its concerns regarding the conditions of detention of migrants in Hungary and questioning whether the country's border policies accorded with its international human rights obligations.
ECtHR: Hungary Violated NGO's Right to Information

November 09, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has held that the refusal by Hungarian law enforcement authorities to disclose to a nongovernmental organization data on their selection of public defenders for the purpose of a study on the quality of the defenders' work violated the NGO's right to freedom of expression.
ECtHR: Sanctions Violated Hungarian MP's Speech Rights

November 08, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has held that the Hungarian Parliament violated the right of a Member from an opposition political party to freedom of expression by fining him for making an insulting gesture during a session and for later refusing to permit him to make a speech accusing the majority party of criminal conduct without recourse to a remedy.
ECtHR: Switzerland Violated Rights by Refusing Reunification

November 08, 2016

Citing the Swiss Federal Supreme Court's "brief" investigation of the child's best interests and "rather summary reasoning" in its decision, the European Court of Human Rights has held that the Swiss court violated the right to family life of an Egyptian teenager by refusing his application to reunite with his father in Switzerland after spending most of his life in Egypt.
HRW Files Spying Claim Against UK at ECtHR

November 07, 2016

Human Rights Watch has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) calling for the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which hears complaints regarding the country's intelligence services, to reveal whether British intelligence agencies subjected them to surveillance and whether such surveillance was lawful.
EU Official Criticizes Questioning of Rights Agenda

November 03, 2016

The Irish Times reports that Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights Michael O'Flaherty warned in a recent address about the "frightening" implications of some "influential voices in EU society" questioning the validity of supranational human rights structures in Europe.
Agency Seeks Centralized EU Justice Rules

October 27, 2016

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights will host an event in November in Bratislava, Slovakia, focusing on cross-border access to justice in the EU and promoting common rules on justice systems throughout the bloc.