Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash On 9 July the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Russia is fully responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, which resulted in the deaths of all 298 onboard, most of them Dutch citizens. The ruling was part of a…
Photo by Michael Schmid on Unsplash The Roma Foundation for Europe has condemned what it claims is a sharp rise in racist attacks and discrimination against Roma and Sinti in Germany, calling it a test of political will and journalistic responsibility. The Foundation’s attack follows the latest annual report by Germany’s Anti-ziganism Reporting and Information…
Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash MEPs say it is time to send a clear signal that the European Parliament defends citizens’ rights. That was the message from the Socialists and Democrats on 18 June ahead of the plenary vote on the 2024 Rule of Law report. It comes, they say, at a time when…
Anders Vistisen MEP says he supports child protection but defends national legal sovereignty and harsher penalties against child abusers, including medical castration. He was speaking on Wednesday in a key plenary debate on the proposal to combat child abuse across the EU. Vistisen emphasized both his strong support for protecting vulnerable children and his firm…
Photo by wd toro 🇲🇨 on Unsplash Martin Schirdewan MEP has demanded an EU-wide ban on extraditions to Hungary. The call, by the joint leader of The Left Group in the EU parliament, comes in the wake of a hunger strike by Maja T., a 24-year-old from Germany. He started his protest in a Hungarian…
The current international peace system is outdated and ineffective, says Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient. Speaking in London last week to highlight the urgent need for justice and accountability, she said “We are witnessing the collapse of the world order before our eyes.” She told this site, “The…
Photo by Matthew Kerslake on Unsplash Campaigners say the first formal appointment of a wildlife conservation organisation as a Trusted Flagger in the European Union will work to highlight online activity by wildlife criminals. Online platforms used by criminals will now be legally bound to respond and prioritise materials identified as illegal by the International…
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash The situation for women in Ireland is increasingly grim. Every day, we hear of violence against women: assault, rape, and even murder. Women are unsafe in their own homes, harassed in nightclubs, and assaulted on our streets. If a woman cannot be safe at home, she can be…
Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash A new report reveals that animal welfare issues are treated very differently by each of the EU’s 27 Member States. The authors, Eurogroup for Animals, say it shows that the EU must update and modernise the animal welfare legislation as soon as possible. This, it says, it needed to…
The Brussels-based NGO Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) has welcomed a 15 January 2025 decision by the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest to uphold a July 2024 decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to fully exonerate Gabriel Popoviciu. Romania’s High Court of Justice and Cassation hearing was the final step in…
