Final Conference of the COST Action IS0702 “The Role of the EU in UN Human Rights Reform”, 13th AHRI (Association of Human Rights Institutes) Conference
10-12 September 2012, Vienna
For many years the United Nations has been discussing the need of strengthening the protection and implementation of human rights by inter alia mainstreaming human rights in all policy areas, developing partnerships with business corporations, treaty body and Human Rights Council reform. Traditionally, the European Union has been one of the most outspoken advocates of a stronger role of human rights in the United Nations architecture. With the Arab Spring and other more recent reform movements the UN seems to be ready for stronger action to protect human rights.
At the talk on the 13th of February 2012, the British Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke put forward his planned reform for the European Court of Human Rights. Following Mr Clarke’s presentation, Kenneth Clarke and Manfred Nowak discussed whether such a reform would restrict European citizens gaining access to the Court and how the numerous pending applications to the Court should be dealt with. The audience members also took part in the lively debate.
At the talk, Helmut GRAUPNER (Rechtskomitee Lambda), Elisabeth HOLZLEITHNER (University of Vienna), Nora MARKARD (University of Bremen), Niraj NATHWANI (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) und Michael STORMANN (Federal Ministry of Justice) will discuss the progress which has been made in the area of equal rights for those in same-sex relationships and the challenges which remain. The talk will be moderated by the journalist Irene BRICKNER (Der Standard).
The statutory basis of the freedom of the media and the press in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights signifies the importance of independent media in Europe. Both freedoms are rightly described as being cornerstones of a free and democratic society. However, direct and indirect repercussions against independant journalists in many European countries seem to indicate inconsistencies between abstract constitutional principles and constitutional reality. The lack of competition between independent media companies and the dependency of many media companies on political and economic interests, for instance, do much to hamper free media reporting.
COST Action IS0702: The Role of the EU in UN Human Rights Reform
25-27 September 2011, Venice
For many years the United Nations is discussing the need of strengthening the protection and implementation of human rights by inter alia mainstreaming human rights in all policy areas, developing partnerships with business corporations, treaty body and Human Rights Council reform. Traditionally, the European Union has been one of the most outspoken advocates of a stronger role of human rights in the United Nations architecture. With the Arab Spring and other more recent reform movements time seems to be ripe for taking decisions on the reform proposals.
US-American and European Approaches to Contemporary Human Rights Problems