At the end of 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted its common position or ‘general approach’ to the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), paving the way for a vote on the legislation in the Committees of the European Parliament in April 2023. The Act stands to be the world’s most significant piece of…
A few days ago, the final report of an independent review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service (Met) was published. The review was conducted by Baroness Dame Louise Casey following the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a police officer in 2021. The scope of the review was…
The full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine on February 24 put tremendous strain on the legal system and showed legislative gaps. Mobilization posed a unique and urgent legal challenge. For instance, among the exceptions to mobilization, one is conspicuously missing – advocates (equivalent to barristers in England and Wales). They have the exclusive right and…
The impact of the blockchains for Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law” is the title of a new report released by the Information Society Department of the Council of Europe. This report explores the risks and potential benefits of blockchain technology for democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It aims to…
As a consequence of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022, a high number of refugees – mostly women, children and elderly – moved to the Republic of Moldova. The number of arrivals in the Republic of Moldova has decreased compared to the massive influx at the beginning of the war in…
In times of war, especially distant war, human lives start being counted by the hundreds. People become “casualties”, “collateral damage”. This is the fate of those currently dying in Ukraine. The right to life is more than a lofty legal guarantee. It is a recognition of the humanity of every person involved in the conflict…
Every day in Europe, women are psychologically and physically abused in the “safety” of their own homes, stalked, harassed, raped, mutilated, forced by their family to enter into marriage, or sterilised against their will. The examples of violence against women are endless, its victims countless. National and European surveys and awareness-raising campaigns have shown how…
On the 30th anniversary of the entry into force of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, France calls on all States to ratify the Protocol, with a view to the universal abolition of the death penalty. With this year marking…
The Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament) passed Bill No. 2689 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts on the Enforcement of International Criminal and Humanitarian Law” on May 20, 2021, with 248 votes in favor out of 363 members in attendance. Almost seven years after the beginning of atrocities in eastern Ukraine and the seized Crimean peninsula,…
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, has called on the Portuguese authorities to address more resolutely the increasing level of racism in the country, as well as to take additional steps to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. The Commissioner is concerned about the rise of racially motivated…
