Human Rights Comments - Commissioner for Human Rights

Human Rights Comment

For the rights of the living, for the dignity of the dead – Time to end the plight of missing migrants in Europe

29/09/2022 Strasbourg

Bereavement in their death to feel Whom we have never seen — A Vital Kinsmanship import Our Soul and theirs — between — For Stranger — Strangers do not mourn (Emily Dickinson) A few lines of poetry hang on the entrance of the graveyard of the island of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost point,...

Human Rights Comment

Support Russian and Belarusian civil societies and human rights defenders

31/08/2022 Strasbourg

Russia’s military attack has resulted in immense suffering, deaths and destruction in Ukraine, with disastrous human rights and humanitarian consequences for all the people living there. It has also triggered the cessation of membership of the Russian Federation in the Council of Europe and a...

Human Rights Comment

Not a target – the need to reinforce the safety of journalists covering conflicts

02/05/2022 Strasbourg

There are many areas around the world, particularly in conflict or post-conflict zones, where it is dangerous, even life-threatening, to practice journalism. The war in Ukraine provides yet another tragic illustration of the vulnerability of journalists in conflict situations. While it is...

Human Rights Comment

Addressing the invisibility of women and girls with disabilities

21/04/2022 Strasbourg

Often, women with disabilities are invisible and marginalised in society, including among those promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, and those promoting gender equality and the advancement of women. The exclusion of women with disabilities from decision-making spaces has for a long...

Human Rights Comment

No space for violence against women and girls in the digital world

15/03/2022 Strasbourg

The advancement of technology has enabled us to connect, share important information, speak up and raise awareness on human rights violations. But it has also provided additional fertile grounds for gender-based violence against women and girls to an alarming extent, and with little...

Human Rights Comment

Pride vs. indignity: political manipulation of homophobia and transphobia in Europe

16/08/2021 Strasbourg

World Pride is being celebrated on our continent this week, but a surge in intolerance towards LGBTI people in Europe is nothing to be proud about. In more and more European countries, politicians and public officials are shamelessly targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex...

Human Rights Comment

Boosting child and youth participation - from voice to choice

01/07/2021 Strasbourg

Amid the ongoing pandemic and its disastrous effects on multiple aspects of human rights protection across the globe, there is consensus in one area: children and young people have been particularly hard hit. While – thus far at least – they have largely been spared from the direct health effects...

Human Rights Comment

Let us make Europe a safe place for environmental human rights defenders

25/05/2021 Strasbourg

In 2017 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a group of dedicated grassroots environmental activists staged a 500-day-long protest against the construction of new hydropower dams on the Kruščica river. The fight led by local women, who later came to be known as the Brave Women of Kruščica, met with many...

Human Rights Comment

Journalists covering public assemblies need to be protected

30/04/2021 Strasbourg

Journalism is a dangerous profession. Images of injured journalists on the fringes of protests have unfortunately become commonplace in Europe, and beyond. Cameramen, journalists, photographers and other media workers have been assaulted while they were just doing their job: reporting on public...

Human Rights Comment

Reform of mental health services: an urgent need and a human rights imperative

07/04/2021 Strasbourg

Already in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was warning that substantial investment in mental health services was necessary to avert a mental health crisis. The evidence for the devastating impact of the pandemic on mental health is now overwhelming....