Human Rights

Lawyers: EU Should Force UK to Remain in ECHR

March 01, 2017

The Independent reports that an open letter from a group of British lawyers calls for the EU to condition any post-Brexit free trade deal with the UK on the country remaining in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to prevent a "human rights crisis" in Britain.
CoE Official Outlines Right to Same-Sex Partnerships

February 28, 2017

In a recent comment, the Council of Europe's (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks argues that CoE states have an obligation under international human rights law to offer at least registered partnerships, and to consider offering the right to marry, to same-sex couples.
FRA Seeks Role in Local Rights Enforcement

February 28, 2017

Representatives of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) recently met with their counterparts from the European Commission and the EU's Committee of the Regions to explore how the FRA might offer "regular policy advice to EU Institutions" and "increase the capacities" of regional and local authorities to respect and enforce fundamental rights.
ECtHR: Spanish Media Violated Singer's Right to Privacy

February 28, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights has held that the Spanish authorities failed to protect a pop singer's right to respect for her private life by failing to give adequate weight to her claim that the media had "impugned her honour" by broadcasting comments from her former manager on her relationships and sexual orientation.
ECtHR: Russian Removal of Syrian Would Violate Rights

February 23, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Russia's removal of a Syrian national to his home country would violate his right to life and that its continued detention of the man for overstaying his visa violates his right to liberty, calling for the country to immediately release the man from detention.
ECtHR: German Inheritance Law Violates Rights

February 21, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights has held that a German law prohibiting a woman from administering her deceased father's estate because she was born out of wedlock before a statutory cut-off point of 1949 had violated the woman's rights against discrimination and to respect for her private and family life.
ECJ Official: States Must Grant Humanitarian Visas

February 17, 2017

Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi of the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has concluded that the European Charter of Fundamental Rights requires EU member states to grant visas on humanitarian grounds to applicants from non-EU countries when those applicants are at risk of ill treatment in their country of origin.
CoE Spotlights Compliance with Rights Judgments

February 17, 2017

Increasing pressure on countries in the Council of Europe (CoE) to implement the European human rights agenda, the CoE's Department for the Execution of Judgments has launched a search engine permitting observers to scrutinize the status of governments' execution of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights.
Hungary Plans Break with EU on Migrant Detention

February 17, 2017

Politico reports that, in a move that will stoke tensions with the EU's migrant resettlement policies, the Hungarian Government has announced a plan to retain indefinitely all migrants entering the country in detention facilities, until officials have resolved their immigration status.
EU Committee Seeks "Inclusive" Social Pillar

February 03, 2017

The European Economic and Social Committee has adopted an opinion on the EU's plans for a European Pillar of Social Rights calling for the inclusion in the Pillar of policies promoting "social progress," including in the welfare systems of EU member states.