Human Rights

EU Committee Pushes Focus on Rights in Border Protection

June 06, 2016

The European Economic and Social Committee has published an opinion calling on EU officials manning the borders of the bloc to prioritize the human rights of migrants and the right of citizens to free movement within the EU in their work and pushing for a common EU asylum system and migration policy.
ECtHR Pushes Clear Standards on Terror Questioning

June 03, 2016

In a recent case involving a terror suspect's claims that police physically abused him while he was in incommunicado custody, the European Court of Human Rights called on the Government of Spain to adopt clear standards for law enforcement officers on questioning these suspects and ensuring their safety.
ECtHR Finds Danish Family Reunion Law Discriminatory

June 02, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has concluded that a Danish law exempting people who have held Danish citizenship for 28 years from a requirement that couples have a stronger tie with Denmark than with another country before they are allowed to both settle in Denmark is discriminatory against non-natives and therefore violated a couple's right to family life.
FRA Calls for Formal EU Disability Rights Framework

June 02, 2016

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has called on EU institutions, through a binding law, to formally define the specific roles and responsibilities of bodies committed to the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities throughout the regional bloc.
FRA Joins Talks on German Intelligence Activities

May 27, 2016

As part of its project on safeguards for fundamental rights in national intelligence and surveillance operations, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights recently participated in a conference hosted by the German Institute for Human Rights on integrating constitutional and human rights law in Germany's foreign intelligence activities.
FRA: EU States Have Duty to "Empower" Migrants

May 25, 2016

At a Rule of Law Dialogue organized by the Dutch Presidency of the EU, Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights Michael O’Flaherty called on EU member states to fulfill their "responsibilities to engage, empower and support migrants" to uphold the rule of law.
ECHR Text Forms Basis for Major UK Privacy Ruling

May 20, 2016

The Telegraph explains how the UK Human Rights Act, which implemented the European Convention on Human Rights in British law, has become the first "privacy law" used to suppress news stories on public figures in the country.
ECtHR Penalizes UK for Long Detention of Iranian National

May 19, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered the UK to pay damages and costs to a convicted Iranian sex offender for leaving the man in detention for 55 months while the government attempted to convince him to return to Iran.
ECtHR: Hungary Violated Rights of Protesting Parliamentarians

May 17, 2016

The European Court of Human Rights has held that Hungary violated the right to free expression of Members of the Hungarian Parliament by fining them for various protests that disrupted parliamentary sessions because the sanctions procedures used did not offer the MPs a sufficient opportunity to defend themselves.
UK Plans to Split Courts from ECtHR Jurisprudence

May 16, 2016

The Telegraph reports that, following the upcoming referendum on EU membership, the British Government is planning a consultation on a Bill of Rights that would provide for the continued jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR") over cases in the UK but eliminate the requirement that British judges "take into account" ECtHR rulings.