Human Rights

CoE Calls for Rights Upgrades in Switzerland

November 21, 2017

The Council of Europe's (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has called on Switzerland to loosen restrictions imposed on migrants under current asylum rules, including by eliminating administrative detention for migrant children over the age of 15, and expressed concerns regarding resources devote to the country's national human rights institution.
FRA: Poverty Is a Rights Violation

November 21, 2017

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has warned EU member states that allowing people to live in poverty is a violation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and has called for governments to use the European Pillar of Social Rights as a "starting point" to address these rights violations in Europe.
NGO Opposes UK Human Rights Reform

November 15, 2017

Amnesty International has published a document calling on the UK to commit to retaining its Human Rights Act, which embeds the European Convention on Human Rights in Britain's legal system, warning that the "decoupling of the national human rights system from international standards" could weaken the protection of rights in the country.
ECtHR: Latvia Failed to Alleviate Disabled Prisoner's Isolation

November 13, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently held that a Latvian prison had violated a deaf and mute prisoner's right against inhuman and degrading treatment by failing to provide him enough personal space and causing feelings of "anguish" and "inferiority" by not providing him adequate ways to communicate.
CoE Official Seeks Revision of Russian Laws on Public Events

October 25, 2017

The Council of Europe's (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has published a memorandum calling for the "thorough revision" of Russian laws he says interfere with the freedom of assembly to take into account international human rights standards.
CoE Pushes Countries to End Child Migrant Detention

October 20, 2017

As the Council of Europe (CoE) seeks to pressure countries to adopt its Action Plan in Protecting Migrant and Refugee Children, the regional organization hosted a conference in Prague pushing governments to end the detention of migrant children and to search for alternatives to the practice.
ECtHR: Spanish "Collective Expulsion" Violated Rights

October 20, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Spain violated the rights of two people attempting to enter its territory by "expelling" them - even if, as Spain argued, the migrants had not yet entered Spanish territory when they were apprehended - without permitting them any judicial or administrative remedy.
CoE Calls for Constraints on Migrant Age Assessments

October 18, 2017

The Council of Europe (CoE) has published a review of migrant age assessments in the body's member states, calling on governments always to apply any "margin of error" in such assessments in favor of the migrant, to avoid any "invasive methods" to determine the person's age, and to always obtain the subject's consent before the assessment.
EU Agency: Migrants Need Stronger Complaint Mechanisms

October 18, 2017

In a study on migrant "reception centres" in several European countries, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights called on governments to uphold fundamental rights standards by establishing an "independent oversight body" and "strong complaint mechanisms" for migrants at these locations.
ECtHR Faces Struggle Implementing Judgments

October 16, 2017

Politico reports that, according to a database maintained by the Council of Europe, member governments across the region have not implemented nearly 10,000 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), with unresolved cases stretching back as far as 1992.