Human Rights

Northern Ireland Judge Finds Abortion Rights in ECHR

December 16, 2015

Despite a contrary precedent from the European Court of Human Rights, Judge Mark Horner of the Northern Ireland High Court has ruled that provisions protecting privacy and family life in the European Convention on Human Rights ("ECHR") requires exceptions in abortion restrictions for children unlikely to survive at birth and those conceived through a sexual crime.
FRA Develops Rights Training for EU Border Patrol

December 16, 2015

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has announced that it recently organized a meeting with the European Asylum Support Office to develop a "training module" for EU asylum officers and border guards on "fundamental rights and international protection."
Russian Proposal Offers "Override" of ECtHR

December 15, 2015

Following a European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR") finding that Russian surveillance activities violated an applicant's right to respect for private life, Russian lawmakers have advanced a proposal that offers the country's government the option to override decisions of the ECtHR.
ECtHR Finds Rights Violations in Russian Surveillance

December 14, 2015

The European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR") has decided that the system of secret interception of mobile-telephone communications in Russia violated a Russian national's right to respect for his private life and correspondence and that he did not have any effective remedy in that respect.
UK Considers Including Judicial Review in HRA Reform

December 07, 2015

The UK Government has announced that it is delaying plans to replace its Human Rights Act ("HRA") with a British Bill of Rights, and thus to weaken the link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights, as it considers replacing review by the Strasbourg court with constitutional review by a domestic supreme or constitutional court.
ECtHR Finds Inspection of Bank Statements Violated Rights

December 07, 2015

The European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR") held that a Portuguese prosecutor's consultation of a lawyer's bank statements during an investigation for tax fraud violated the lawyer's right to respect for private life under the European Convention on Human Rights.
CoE Criticizes Hungarian Response to Migrants

December 04, 2015

Council of Europe ("CoE") Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has said that the response of Hungary to the influx of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa "falls short" based on the government's criminalization of undocumented migration and return of many of the migrants to Serbia.
CoE Seeks Increased Scrutiny of Migrant Rights

December 04, 2015

Warning of ill treatment of migrants at border crossings and in migrant camps, Secretary General of the Council of Europe ("CoE") Thorbjørn Jagland has announced that the CoE is examining ways in which it can increase its monitoring of the human rights of migrants and refugees entering CoE member countries.
France Announces Opt-out of ECHR

December 03, 2015

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the French Government has announced to the Council of Europe that it will opt out of some of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights ("ECHR") during its state of emergency.
ECtHR Upholds French Headscarf Ban in Employment

December 02, 2015

The European Court of Human Rights ("ECtHR") has upheld the application of a French rule banning the wearing of a headscarf at work to a Muslim social worker terminated from her employment at a hospital.