2016 - Commissioner's Human Rights Comment

Human Rights Comment

National human rights structures: protecting human rights while countering terrorism

Strasbourg 06/12/2016

A series of terrorist attacks has deeply traumatised Europe. In Brussels, Paris, Copenhagen, Ankara and beyond, shock was followed by fear of further attacks and a sense of urgency about preventing them. Preventing and combating terrorism is a clear duty of all states, which must respect and...

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Human Rights Comment

Migrants in limbo in Europe have the right to live in dignity

15/11/2016 Strasbourg

In some countries, they call them “invisible persons”, in others – “ghosts”. Throughout Europe there are many migrants, primarily rejected asylum seekers, who live in a state of protracted legal and social limbo without any long-term prospects. The authorities refuse to regularize them or to...

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Human Rights Comment

Why remembering the Holocaust is a human rights imperative

18/10/2016 Strasbourg

The Shoah stands out as one of the defining moments of history that has shaped the conscience of mankind. It is unique in its roots, implementation and envisioned totality. During my mandate as Commissioner for Human Rights, I have attended a number of ceremonies of commemoration of the victims...

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Human Rights Comment

No violence against children is acceptable, all violence is preventable

20/09/2016 Strasbourg

This was the main conclusion of the 2006 UN Global study on violence against children. In 2015, the UN Special Representative on Violence against Children published the results of a worldwide consultation of children, which highlighted that protection from violence was their second highest...

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Human Rights Comment

Human rights defenders’ work is vital for redress to victims of enforced disappearance

29/08/2016 Strasbourg

Last March I published an Issue Paper on Missing persons and victims of enforced disappearance in Europe, aiming to help Council of Europe member states improve their law and practice. Much remains to be done, considering that thousands of cases of missing persons and enforced disappearance...

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Human Rights Comment

Non-implementation of the Court’s judgments: our shared responsibility

23/08/2016 Strasbourg

In December last year, the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee on Human Rights (CDDH) published a report on the longer-term future of the system of the European Convention on Human Rights (“the Convention”). There were two challenges which particularly struck me: firstly, prolonged...

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Human rights comment

Protect women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights

21/07/2016 Strasbourg

In these times of resurgent threats to women’s rights and gender equality, we must redouble our efforts to protect women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. Among the international and European legal instruments that protect these rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of...

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Human Rights Comment

Torture survivors have the right to redress and rehabilitation

07/06/2016 Strasbourg

Torture and ill-treatment are practiced in at least 140 countries worldwide, according to data compiled by Amnesty International. Regrettably, those phenomena still occur in Europe, too. They are often – but not only – linked to armed conflicts. Moreover, people who have experienced torture...

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Human Rights Comment

Business enterprises begin to recognise their human rights responsibilities

04/04/2016 Strasbourg

The effects of business practices on human rights have become a central issue for human rights protection. For a long time already, concerns have been raised about malpractices related to labour rights, health and safety at work and the use of child labour by some business enterprises. Later on,...

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Human Rights Comment

Human rights of refugee and migrant women and girls need to be better protected

07/03/2016 Strasbourg

For the first time since the beginning of the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, women and children on the move outnumber adult men. While in 2015 about 70 % of the population on the move were men, women and children now make up nearly 60% of refugees and other migrants crossing into Europe....

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Human Rights Comment

Travellers – Time to counter deep-rooted hostility

04/02/2016 Strasbourg

In October 2015, 10 persons died in a fire which broke in a Travellers’ site near Dublin. Following this tragic event, neighbours prevented the authorities from providing alternative accommodation to the surviving members of the group on a nearby site by blocking roads leading to the new site....

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