Human Rights

CoE Official Demands Respect for Migrants’ Rights

June 19, 2019

The Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović has published a report containing 35 recommendations on how states must bolster their efforts to rescue migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea and respect the human rights of such migrants once they have reached the shores of Europe.
ECtHR: Italy’s Life Imprisonment Regime Violated Man’s Rights

June 19, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Italy violated a man’s right against inhuman or degrading treatment by sentencing him to life imprisonment with the possibility of early release contingent on his cooperation with judicial authorities against the organized crime syndicate with which he was involved.
ECtHR: Greece Failed to Fulfill Duties Toward Migrating Minors

June 13, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Greek authorities violated the rights of migrant minors from Afghanistan by detaining them in police stations, as such detention might have aroused “feelings of isolation from the outside world,” and by failing to alleviate the poor conditions of a migrant camp in which some of them lived.
CoE Body Warns of Rise in “Xenophobic Populism” in Politics

June 12, 2019

In its annual report, the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Commission against Racism and Intolerance spotlighted “xenophobic populism and racist hate speech” as growing dangers to the European political climate and praised countries for creating police units to enforce international anti-hate speech standards.
EU Agency Warns of Increase in “Harassment” and “Inequalities”

June 06, 2019

In its 2019 Fundamental Rights Report, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights warns of growing “inequalities, harassment, and prejudices” across the bloc and calls for “robust responses,” including national action plans, to discrimination, harassment, and hate speech.
CoE Refugee Action Plan Seeks Support for Non-Minors

May 30, 2019

As part of its Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children in Europe, the Council of Europe (CoE) Committee of Ministers called on CoE member states to continue providing “temporary support” to refugees who are over 18 years old.
CoE Official Opposes Hungarian Migrant, Family Policies

May 22, 2019

The Council of Europe’s (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović has published a report accusing the Hungarian government of violating human rights standards through its treatment of migrants, politicians’ promotion of “xenophobic attitudes,” and reinforcement of gender stereotypes by encouraging large families.
CoE Agent: States Must Separate Migration Control, Integration Policies

May 01, 2019

According to a paper by the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) on migration and refugees Tomáš Boček, European human rights standards demand that governments refrain from pursuing goals on controlling migration numbers in their migrant integration policies.
ECtHR: Russia Must Reform Method of Transporting Prisoners

April 29, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found a “recurrent structural problem” in the manner in which the Russian government transports prisoners, giving the country 18 months to establish effective remedies that grant prisoners more space when traveling and limit the allocation of prisoners to remote detention facilities.
ECtHR Finds Defect in Swiss Deportation Procedure

April 29, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently held that a Swiss court had violated the rights of a Kosovar national by issuing an expulsion order over his rape conviction without adequately considering his declining health and his “social, cultural and family bonds” in Switzerland.