Human Rights

ECtHR: Russia Violated Privacy Rights by Copying Laptop Files

March 05, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently held that Russian customs officers had violated the rights of a photojournalist to respect for private life by copying the contents of his laptop in a search for "extremist" material following his return to the country from the region of Abkhazia.
ECtHR: Conviction for "Insulting" Comments Upheld Speech Rights

February 13, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has rejected a case in which a lawyer challenged his conviction in Bosnia and Herzegovina for making "insulting expressions towards Serbs" online on the ground that it violated his freedom of expression, finding that the comments had "touched upon the very sensitive matter of ethnic relations in post-conflict Bosnian society."
ECtHR Finds Rights Violation in Expulsion for Terror Conviction

February 06, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that France violated the right against torture of an Algerian national convicted of involvement in a conspiracy to commit acts of terror by expelling him to Algeria, where the ECtHR found that knowledge of his terror conviction by authorities subjected him to the risk of ill treatment.
CoE Group Identifies Violations of Social, Economic Rights

February 01, 2018

In the group's annual conclusions for 2017, the Council of Europe's (CoE) Committee for Social Rights has identified 175 violations of rights related to "health, social security and social protection," including violations of a "right to protection against poverty and social exclusion."
ECtHR: Fining Company for Biblical Figures in Ads Violated Rights

January 31, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that penalties imposed by the Lithuanian government on a clothing company for including captions mentioning biblical figures Jesus and Mary in its advertising campaign violated the company's freedom of expression because the ads were not "gratuitously offensive" and "did not incite hatred."
UN Agent Demands EU Response to NGO Rules

January 30, 2018

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Michael Forst has called on EU institutions to respond to tightened restrictions on nongovernmental organizations imposed by some member governments by boosting direct EU funding for civil society within the bloc.
ECJ Permits Facebook Privacy Lawsuit to Proceed

January 29, 2018

AP reports that the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has permitted an Austrian privacy activist to launch a lawsuit against the Irish subsidiary of tech giant Facebook for the company's alleged violation of EU laws governing his privacy rights, though he cannot initiate a class-action lawsuit based on these claims.
ECJ Rejects Psychological Tests of Refugees' Sexual Orientation

January 29, 2018

Reuters reports that the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has held that EU member states are barred from performing psychological tests to determine whether asylum seekers are telling the truth about their sexual orientation.
ECtHR Finds Right to Post Images of Spoiled Ballots

January 29, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the Hungarian government violated the right to freedom of expression of a political party by fining it for making available a mobile phone application permitting voters to anonymously upload to a public website images of their invalid ballots cast in a recent national referendum.
EU Leaders Eye Budget as "Weapon" in Rule-of-Law Disputes

January 24, 2018

The Economist reports that a proposal to "weaponise" the EU budget by withholding development funds from member states accused of failing to uphold principles of the rule of law and fundamental rights is gaining traction among Western European leaders as they prepare for formal negotiations of the bloc's "multiannual financial framework."