Human Rights

U.K. Conservatives Announce Plans for Bill of Rights

October 03, 2014

The British Conservative Party has released a strategy document outlining how, by repealing the U.K. Human Rights Act and replacing it with a British Bill of Rights, the party would restore sovereignty to the U.K. Parliament and supremacy to the U.K. Supreme Court.
Lord Judge: ECHR Cannot Override Parliamentary Supremacy

October 02, 2014

Recently retired Lord Chief Justice Judge writes that "it would be a negation of the democratic process" if the European Court of Human Rights ("ECHR"), as a group of unelected judges, had authority to override British sovereignty by binding the U.K. Parliament to act.
ECHR Refuses Deportation Due to Risk of "Life-Without-Parole" Sentence

September 10, 2014

The European Court of Human Rights ("ECHR") has declared that Belgium's deportation of a terror suspect to the U.S. would violate his human rights because the U.S. could impose upon the suspect a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release.
Irish Justice Expresses Subsidiarity Concerns over ECHR

September 10, 2014

Irish Supreme Court Justice Adrian Hardiman has questioned whether the European Court of Human Rights ("ECHR") has ignored the principle of subsidiarity by hearing a case when domestic remedies had not yet been exhausted.
NGO Challenges U.K. for Secrecy in Intelligence Sharing

September 10, 2014

The nongovernmental organization ("NGO") Privacy International has taken the U.K. to the European Court of Human Rights over the country's refusal to publish the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing treaty.
ECHR "Cyberbullying" Decision Prompts Proposed Irish Reforms

September 03, 2014

Citing the European Court of Human Rights ("ECHR") decision that Ireland was liable for abuse suffered by a student at state school, the country's Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Geoffrey Shannon has proposed reforms seeking to expand school responsibility for countering "cyberbullying" conduct.
Rozenberg Outlines U.K. Human Rights Options

September 03, 2014

In a recent article in The Guardian, Joshua Rozenberg analyzes the U.K.'s options for protecting its sovereignty in the area of human rights.
COE Expresses Concern over Missouri Police Response to Protesters

August 27, 2014

Secretary General of the Council of Europe ("COE") Thorbjørn Jagland has voiced concern at the use of force by Missouri police on individuals protesting the recent shooting of teenager Michael Brown and calls on the U.S. "to look into the socio-economic background" of why protesters took to the streets.
O'Neill: EU "Right to Be Forgotten" Erodes Freedom

August 20, 2014

Brendan O'Neill writes in The Telegraph that the Court of Justice of the EU's decision requiring search engines to eliminate links to information deemed irrelevant is eroding media freedom and the public's "right to know" about facts that have previously been reported on news sites.
Experts Warn EU Data Privacy Laws May Hamper Research

August 20, 2014

A joint letter from directors of science institutions across Europe warns that an amended EU law seeking to standardize the level of data protection afforded to individuals throughout the bloc would make the use of personal data in social science research in Europe far more difficult.