Търсене
Hate speech and hate crime targeting LGBTI people
Hate speech and hate crime are incompatible with the European Union's common values and fundamental rights, as enshrined in the European Union (EU) Treaties and in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. EU law criminalises hate speech and hate crime, but only if it is related to a limited set of characteristics, namely: race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin. Legislative developments, case-law and policy initiatives have helped to create more equal and welcoming societies – including ...
Europol: The EU law enforcement cooperation agency
Evolving from informal police cooperation in the 1970s to a fully fledged European Union (EU) agency, Europol has seen its mandate continuously strengthened in recent years. In 2016, the agency was given a new legal basis (Regulation (EU) 2016/794), which strengthened Europol's data management and protection rules and provided for enhanced scrutiny: (i) political scrutiny – by a new parliamentary oversight body made up of representatives of the European Ϸվ and Member States' national parliaments ...
Criminalisation of hate speech and hate crime in selected EU countries
Hate speech and hate crime can destroy lives, harm people and property, threaten individual rights, terrify communities, reduce trust between members of society, create and amplify tensions between social groups, disturb public peace and order, and endanger peaceful coexistence. Hate speech distorts public debate and, at its worst, leads to an abuse of rights that endangers the rule of law. Hate speech and hate crime are incompatible with the EU's common values and fundamental rights, as enshrined ...
Hate speech and hate crime: Time to act?
Over the last 20 years, there has been a marked increase in hate speech and hate crime in Europe. Expressing hate has become socially acceptable, stigmatising and dehumanising individuals and groups of people for characteristics ranging from age, ethnicity, gender identity, language, nationality, race, religion, and sex to sexual orientation. Widespread use of the internet and social media has increasingly brought hate speech online. EU law criminalises hate speech and hate crime, but only if it ...
Directive on the violation of Union restrictive measures
The EU has established over 40 regimes of sanctions against third countries, entities, and legal and natural persons. EU sanctions include arms embargoes, import and export bans, restrictions on banking services, freezing of funds and economic resources, and travel bans. While the adoption of EU sanctions is centralised at the EU level, responsibility for their implementation and enforcement lies with the Member States. The significant differences between national systems, particularly in terms of ...
Revision of the EU rules on asset recovery and confiscation
The confiscation of criminals' illicit profits is considered an effective tool in the fight against organised crime, identified as a major threat to EU security. However, despite the comprehensive set of EU rules on asset freezing and confiscation, there are still obstacles on the path to recovering criminal assets, as shown by the European Commission's June 2020 evaluation of the 2014 directive on freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime and the 2007 Council decision ...
EU sanctions: A key foreign and security policy instrument
Sanctions have become an increasingly central element of the EU's common and foreign security policy. At present, the EU has over 50 sanctions programmes in place, concerning nearly 40 countries. Unlike the comprehensive trade embargoes used in the past, the EU has moved towards asset freezes and visa bans targeting individual persons and companies, aiming to influence foreign governments while avoiding humanitarian costs for the general population. Other measures in the sanctions 'toolkit' include ...
Лауреатът на наградата „Сахаров“ за 2023 г.: Жина Махса Амини и движението „Жена, живот, свобода“ в Иран
Зачитането на основните свободи и права на човека е основна ценност на Европейския съюз, която той насърчава чрез своите политики. Наградата „Сахаров“ на Европейския парламент е признание за делата на онези, които се борят за тези свободи и права. Днес мирът и правата на човека са подложени на все по-големи атаки и затова наградата продължава да бъде все така актуална. Тази година наградата се присъжда на Жина Махса Амини и движението „Жена, живот, свобода“ в Иран. Церемонията по връчването й ще ...
Peace and Security in 2023: Overview of EU action and outlook for the future
Russia's war on Ukraine has caused the European Union (EU) to intensify its work for peace and security. The Peace and Security Outlook, produced by the European Ϸվary Research Service (EPRS), seeks to analyse and explain the European Union's contribution to the promotion and restoration of peace and security internationally, through its various external policies. This study provides an overview of the issues and current state of play. It looks first at the concept of peace and the changing ...
EU relations with the Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (or Palestinian Authority - PA), is the governing body of the Palestinian autonomous regions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, established in 1994 as part of the Oslo Accords peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Relations between the PA and Israel are particularly tense, especially since the new Israeli government took office in December 2022. The PA faces a crisis of legitimacy due to growing dissatisfaction among Palestinians ...