In the course of the "Global Europe" strategy, the European Commission has created a new generation of bilateral trade and investment agreement. These agreements have harshly been criticized by civil society in the international debate. The main points of criticism concern the non-democratic negotiating processes as well as disregard for international labour and social standards.

The BIM was commissioned by the Vienna Chamber of Labour to elaborate a study that deals in particular with the safeguard of workers rights and social standards in the sustainability chapters of such bilateral agreements.

The Public Lecture Series "Human Rights in the European Context" continues during the winter. In this Public Lecture Series members of the Research Platform regularly discuss current human rights issues with national and international experts.

The Public Lecture Series is supported by derStandard.at and FALTER.

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, said today at the occassion of his presentation at the AIDS 2010 conference, that there is an urgent need for a comprehensive reform of the criminal justice and prison system to ensure an adequate response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and detainees’ human rights. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in prisons and the measures authorities take to deal with it, impact – and often violate – detainees’ human rights.

UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon estimates the current number of child soldiers around 250,000, ethnologist Rita Schäfer said on the occasion of a lecture she held in Vienna on April, 27 this year. Child soldiers are mainly being recruited by warlords and leading generals of the army for their political, economical and ideological battle.

Manual on the Implementation of the Human Rights Based Approach in OEZA

The Manual focuses on the three sectors, as defined in the guidelines: Integration of  a Human Rights centered perspective as a main principle, Human Rights as a sector of intervention and Human Rights in the political dialogue.