Human Rights Comment
Countries of the former Yugoslavia need to step up their efforts to resolve cases of missing persons
The presidents of Serbia and Croatia have met on several occasions recently and the issue of missing persons has been high on their agenda. It has been reported that the president of Serbia, Mr Boris Tadic, brought with him important documents to the latest meeting concerning persons who have...
Human Rights Comment
Desecrations of cemeteries are hate crimes that exacerbate intolerance
Every second day a cemetery is desecrated in France. Acts of profanation, such as the destructions of tombs and sprayed hate messages on religious and other symbolic places, are on the rise in Europe. This is not just an issue of serious concern for the respect of religious freedom – these are...
Human Rights Comment
Europe should accept more refugees in need of safe resettlement
European countries are closing their borders to migrants, arguing that they have room only for “genuine” refugees, who cannot return to their home countries without risking their lives or freedom. Yet Europe’s role to help such refugees into safety is relatively small. More ought to be done in...
Human Rights Comment
European Muslims are stigmatised by populist rhetoric
European countries appear to face another crisis beyond budget deficits – the disintegration of human values. One symptom is the increasing expression of intolerance towards Muslims. The Swiss referendum banning the building of minarets was no exception: opinion polls in several European...
Human Rights Comment
Freedom to demonstrate is a human right – even when the message is critical
Sunday 31 October will be a test for the effectiveness in practice of the right to peaceful assembly, which is enshrined in Article 31 of the Russian Constitution. For more than a year “Strategy 31” rallies have been held in Moscow, St Petersburg and some other Russian cities on months with that...
Human Rights Comment
Inhuman treatment of persons with disabilities in institutions
The prosecutor general in Bulgaria has initiated criminal investigations into 166 deaths and 30 more cases of abuse of children living in state homes for young people with mental disabilities. This was an important signal not only for the Bulgarian authorities but for several other states with...
Human Rights Comment
Airlines are not immigration authorities
European states seek to reduce immigration through improper threats of sanctions against airlines and other transport companies. They pass heavy responsibility on to the carriers in order to limit access to their territories. Travel personnel, who cannot possibly have the appropriate competencies...
Human Rights Comment
The public has the right to know what those they elected are doing
Voters have the right to know about the decisions taken by their elected politicians and public administrations. The need for such transparency is recognised in principle in several European countries, but is not yet a reality throughout large parts of the continent. While the authorities collect...
Human Rights Comment
The ‘Dublin Regulation’ undermines refugee rights
The asylum procedures of European countries are still flawed – they need to be improved and better harmonised. One of the necessary reforms is to overhaul the dysfunctional so-called Dublin Regulation within the European Union. Under the Dublin system, the responsibility for examining asylum...
Human Rights Comment
Do not stigmatise Roma
Repatriation of Roma EU citizens is now common in several European countries. France’s crackdown on crime has specifically targeted Roma from Romania and Bulgaria. And France is not alone. Italy, for instance, has arrested and deported a considerable number of Romanian Roma in the last few years....
Human Rights Comment
Forced divorce and sterilisation – a reality for many transgender persons
The rights of transgender persons are still ignored or violated, but some signs of understanding now begin to appear. One example is the outcome, at long last, of Lydia Foy’s struggle in Ireland. She was registered as male at birth but has lived as a woman since 1992. This summer she finally...
Human Rights Comment
Refugee children should have a genuine chance to seek asylum
The real asylum policies in Europe today largely ignore children among refugees. They are often not listened to and rather treated as if they were possessions belonging to their parents. It is often forgotten that they could have their own reasons for seeking protection. Some of them do. When...
Human Rights Comment
Stateless Roma: no documents – no rights
Tens of thousands of Roma live in Europe without a nationality. Lacking birth certificates, identity cards, passports and other documents, they are often denied basic rights such as education, healthcare, social assistance and the right to vote. The exclusion and marginalisation that Roma persons...
Human Rights Comment
Elderly across Europe live in extreme hardship and poverty
Hundreds of thousands of elderly persons across Europe are struggling for their everyday survival. Many suffer a shocking level of poverty. They tend to be ignored by politicians and are often seen as being non-productive and worthless in modern society. The human rights of the older generation...
Human Rights Comment
Landmines still kill in Europe: Time for an absolute ban
There have been more than 3 000 casualties caused by landmines in Europe in the last ten years. Anti-personnel landmines continue to kill or maim indiscriminately long after wars have finished. They are therefore banned under international law. However, this prohibition has not been effectively...
Human Rights Comment
Those responsible for the death of Natalia Estemirova must be brought to justice
One year has passed since human rights defender Natalia Estemirova was brutally murdered. On 15 July 2009 she was abducted near her house in Grozny, Chechnya. She was pushed into a car by several assailants and some hours later her body was found in a forest in Ingushetia. She had been shot in...
Human Rights Comment
Children victimised when families are forced to return to Kosovo
Several thousand persons have been forcibly returned to Kosovo by west European states in the last few years, mainly from Austria, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Among the returnees have been persons belonging to minorities, and in particular Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians. For them these...
Human Rights Comment
European states should respect advice by UNHCR
Advice by the authoritative United Nations refugee agency is nowadays not sufficiently respected by governments and state agencies in Europe. Strong recommendations by UNHCR have simply been ignored in a number of recent cases. This policy puts refugees at risk and undermines the agreed...
Le carnet des droits de l'homme
Il ne faut pas déformer les atrocités du passé ni les exploiter à des fins politiques, mais au contraire les reconnaître et les documenter pour en tirer les leçons
De flagrantes violations des droits de l’homme commises dans le passé continuent à peser sur les relations dans l’Europe d’aujourd’hui. L’on a parfois su en tirer les leçons ; une connaissance véritable de l’histoire a favorisé la compréhension, la tolérance et la confiance entre les individus et...
Human Rights Comment
Rulings anywhere that women must wear the burqa should be condemned - but banning such dresses here would be wrong
Prohibition of the burqa and the niqab would not liberate oppressed women, but might instead lead to their further alienation in European societies. A general ban on such attires would constitute an ill-advised invasion of individual privacy. Depending on its precise terms, a prohibition also...
Le carnet des droits de l'homme
Les politiques migratoires européennes sont discriminatoires à l’égard des Roms
Les gouvernements européens ne traitent pas les Roms de la même façon que les autres migrants alors qu’ils ont tout autant besoin d’être protégés. Les migrants roms sont renvoyés de force dans des pays où ils sont exposés à des violations des droits de l’homme. En Allemagne, en Autriche et dans «...
Le carnet des droits de l'homme
La Cour de Strasbourg est un espoir pour beaucoup d'Européens - son bon fonctionnement doit être durablement garanti
La Cour européenne des droits de l’homme a trouvé un tel écho auprès des citoyens de toute l’Europe qu’elle est débordée. En 2009, elle a reçu plus de 50 000 requêtes, ce qui porte le nombre d’affaires pendantes au-delà de 100 000. Ces chiffres montrent combien il est nécessaire de réformer les...
Le carnet des droits de l'homme
Ne pas respecter les droits linguistiques des minorités nationales, c’est bafouer les droits de l’homme et créer des tensions intercommunautaires
Les droits linguistiques sont devenus un sujet de discorde dans plusieurs pays européens et aussi, par conséquent, entre Etats voisins. Face aux mesures prises par certains gouvernements pour renforcer le statut de leurs langues officielles, les minorités nationales redoutent en effet que leurs...
Le carnet des droits de l'homme
Il faut mettre fin à l’impunité pour faits de viols des femmes
Gouvernements et parlements doivent prendre plus au sérieux les violences sexuelles. Les blessures profondes et durables infligées aux victimes de viol portent souvent gravement atteinte à leur intégrité physique et psychologique. Bien que ces infractions restent pour beaucoup dans l’ombre et que...
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Human Rights Comment
Austerity budgets will cause further child poverty
While the European Union promoted 2010 as the “European Year Against Poverty”, several member states presented austerity budgets which will inevitably push more people into destitution. There are already large numbers of children among the poor, and it is obvious that the struggle against child...
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