The Commissioner's Human Rights Comment

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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....

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Human Rights Comments

Corruption undermines human rights and the rule of law

19/01/2021 Strasbourg

In recent years, in many European countries, including Romania, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine, people have taken to the streets in protests against systemic corruption, demanding respect for the rule of law, accountability of corrupt politicians and a...

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