Executive summary The present study examines a number of issues concerning the EUs own (autonomous) sanctions (also called restrictive measures) and EU sanctions implementing UN Security Council sanctions. The interplay between the international, EU and national constitutional legal systems...

The aim of this study is to synthesize legal arguments and research findings relating to ethno-racial profiling in the field of anti-terrorist policies and legal instruments. The ultimate goal is to formulate guidelines and recommendations for the European legislators. In Part I, the study...

The EU Delegations are playing a more important role in political analysis and policy shaping, thanks to their leadership in drafting the new Human Rights Country Strategies, are better able to carry out human rights diplomacy, thanks to their improved standing through the Lisbon Treaty changes,...

The "external dimension" of the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) was formalised in the Hague Programme on "strengthening freedom, security and justice in the European Union", approved by the European Council in its meeting of 4 November 2004. In 2005, the European Commission and...

The European Union has and continues to place human rights and democracy at the heart of its external relations, namely through its activities in the UN human rights system. With the ongoing criticism about the inadequacies of the UN Commission on Human Rights Kofi Annan recommended that this...

The EU frequently imposes sanctions on countries that violate human rights and democratic principles in third countries. It does this most frequently within the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), which usually, but not always, implements action taken by the UN Security...

This study examines the human rights aspects of the Internet, and looks in detail at the relevant criminal law rules of the Council of Europe and the EU. It also examines other aspects of the issue of cyber-crime, such as data protection rights, the EUs Safer Internet programme, child...

The rapid evolution of information and communications technology (ICT) and associated digital communications over the past two decades has dramatically changed communication practices across the world. This has had profound implications for human rights on a number of levels. Firstly,...

A review of the United Nations Human Rights Council is currently under way in Geneva and New York and is set to be finished by July 2011. This study analyses the role of the European Union in the Human Rights Council since the inception of the Council in 2006, and then considers its role in the...

This study examines the triangular relationship between fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law in the EU and the challenges that arise in reflecting on ways to strengthen EU competences in these terrains. It analyses the current ‘state of play’ and provides a map of EU-level...