Human Rights

British MP: ECHR Must Not Apply to the Battlefield

September 21, 2016

UK Member of Parliament Tom Tugendhat writes that the increasing number of lawsuits brought under the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights against British soldiers for their conduct in combat operations signals the invalid creep of ECHR principles from civilian scenarios to complex battlefield situations.
ECtHR: Russia Violated Travel Rights of Convicted Criminals

September 20, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has concluded that Russia violated the travel rights of two convicted criminals serving periods of probation for smuggling and extortion by denying their requests for passports during these periods without considering the circumstances of their individual cases.
ECtHR: Greece Violated Rights of Conscientious Objector

September 19, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has held that the Greek government failed to respect a man's right to religious freedom because it permitted his claim to conscientious objection from military service to be heard by a panel made up primarily of members of the military.
ECJ Official: EU-Canada Passenger Records Violate Rights

September 16, 2016

Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi of the Court of Justice of the EU has advised that the agreement between the EU and Canada to maintain a database of passenger name record data to combat terrorism and transnational crime violates the fundamental rights of citizens in EU countries due to the lack of certain privacy safeguards.
ECtHR: UK Violated Terror Suspect's Right to Counsel

September 16, 2016

In a case involving the aftermath of an attempted bombing of London's underground train system, the European Court of Human Rights has held that the British police violated a witness's right to legal assistance in questioning him about what he knew of the attempted attacks without offering him legal advice after they suspected that he was involved.
ECtHR Calls on Belgium to Reorganize Psychiatric Detention

September 13, 2016

Concluding that Belgium's confinement of a convicted sex offender in a prison psychiatric ward for over nine years without "appropriate treatment" of his mental illness violated his human rights, the European Court of Human Rights has launched a procedure pushing the country to reorganize its system of psychiatric detention to respect the "dignity" of such detainees.
FRA Trains EU Border Agency on Rights

September 07, 2016

In partnership with the UN Refugee Agency, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has launched the second phase of its training of the EU border entity, Frontex, consisting of specialized training on how to avoid human rights violations while managing the protection of the bloc's external borders.
ECtHR: Prison Failed to Adequately Treat Heroin Addict

September 07, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has held that the German government failed to meet its burden of proof in showing that it adequately consulted medical professionals when declining to provide methadone treatment to a prisoner addicted to heroin and therefore violated his right against torture.
CoE Demands Transparency in Swiss Political Funding

August 31, 2016

According to news website SWI, a report from the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption calls for Switzerland to "fall into line" in adopting CoE recommendations on the public reporting of political finance.
Official Warns of Sovereignty Threat to CoE System

August 29, 2016

The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, has warned that assertions that national sovereignty trumps the implementation of European Court of Human Rights judgments, which he notes are legally binding, are a threat to the Council of Europe human rights apparatus and to the rule of law in Europe.