

In this section you will find up-to-date information about the Fundamental Rights Agency's work: recent activities, publications and forthcoming events. These are also compiled regularly in the new FRA Newsletter, which you can read on this website or by subscribing to it through info@fra.europa.eu.

The incoming Spanish Presidency of the European Union and FRA are organising a joint seminar on "Fundamental rights in the European Union in view of the accession of the Union to the European Convention on Human Rights" on 2-3 February 2010 in Madrid. Relevant experts in the field of protection of fundamental rights from Spain and other European Union Member States and Institutions, will have the opportunity to discuss and analyse the impact of Accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, sharing with participants their experiences and views.
The Lisbon Treaty will bring new challenges and opportunities in the field of protection of fundamental rights. These challenges and opportunities will have legal, political and technical implications, but hopefully also contribute to making rights a reality for all in the Union.
The 26-28 January saw over thirty education ministers, senior government representatives and ambassadors gather at the site of the former concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland. International Holocaust Remembrance Day offered an opportunity not only to reflect on the 65 years since the camp's liberation, but for attendees to participate in discussions about how best to continue to include Holocaust education in national curricula, in both an historical and relevant fashion. Attendance by high-profile figures such as Polish President Lech KaczyĆski, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as a video message from US President Barack Obama demonstrated the enduring value of such occasions.
The presentation of the FRA's most recent report, "Discover the past for the future: A study on the role of historical sites and museums in Holocaust education and human rights education in the EU", contributed by highlighting the importance of locations such as Auschwitz in educating younger generations about events of the past, to aid them in understanding their implications for human rights issues today. The camp itself impacted greatly on the discussions, as was observed by the UK's Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Mr Iain Wright: 'A key point that I really support that came out in today's conference, was the preservation of the actual sites, the preservation of the buildings and objects, because they are so poignant, so vivid and bring it home so powerfully to people, across the generations the horrors that have taken place here.'
Mrs Ilze Brands Kehris, Chairperson of the FRA Management Board: "Many of the interviewed students (during the FRA project) viewed memorial sites as places that could have a lasting impression on them. But students also asked for a stronger connection to the present in education activities about the Holocaust."

At a Ministerial Conference being held in Auschwitz from 26-28 January, the FRA released the findings of the first ever EU-wide study on the role of historical sites and museums in teaching about the Holocaust and human rights. On the eve of the 2010 International Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Holocaust, the report revealed that at historical sites and in schools across the EU, teaching about the Holocaust rarely includes discussion of related human rights issues. Teachers and guides are considered to be key to ensuring interest in the subject, yet there is a lack of human rights training on behalf of both groups. Based on the findings of its study, the FRA encourages national governments to better integrate human rights education into their school curricula to reflect the significance of human rights for both the history and the future of the EU.
FRA Director Morten Kjaerum: "The findings of our report reveal the importance attached to Holocaust education, democracy education and human rights education by governments throughout the EU. However, this is not sufficiently reflected in school curricula and links are not established between important historical events, like the Holocaust, and human rights. When this is achieved young people in the EU will be able to fully understand their past and go on to build a more united future."

The European Court of Human Rights and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights will join forces to work on a year-long joint project aimed at increasing the knowledge and domestic implementation of EU law and other legal instruments in the field of non-discrimination.

2010 will be the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Although the European Union is one of the richest areas in the world, 78 million people in the EU - or 16% of the population - currently live at risk of poverty. The Fundamental Rights Agency is committed to raising awareness of the rights of people living in poverty and of those excluded from society, and to highlighting the benefits to society as a whole of enabling people to live in dignity and play an active part in society.

"Making rights a reality for all" was the theme of the FRC 2009 which was held in cooperation with the Swedish Presidency of the EU in Stockholm on 10-11 December 2009. The focus was on identifying solutions to protect and promote the rights of marginalised groups which are most vulnerable to discrimination and exclusion in the EU.
The two-day conference came to a close with comments from State Secretary Christer Hallerby (Swedish Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality) and FRA Director Morten Kjaerum. Over the course of the conference, numerous issues were raised and many good practice examples were shared in panel debates, working groups and presentations.
The deadline to apply to the FRA Fundamental Rights Platform has been extended to 15 January 2010. Interested organisations which have not yet submitted their application can fill in our online application form.
The Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) is a network for cooperation and information exchange, set to act as the main channel for FRA's cooperation with civil society and to ensure a close cooperation between the Agency and relevant stakeholders.

Yesterday saw the opening of the Fundamental Rights Agency's second annual Fundamental Rights Conference (FRC) in Stockholm, coinciding with International Human Rights Day. The first day featured speeches and presentations from senior representatives of EU institutions, rights organisations and minority groups, as well as an innovative approach to panel debate in which participants fielded questions not just from the audience but from questionnaires submitted online to the FRA by the general public prior to the event.
Thursday's working group discussion looked at identifying the challenges and strategies involved in Guaranteeing equal rights to everyone in society, with a particular focus on the issues of access to justice, access to services, freedom of movement and access to basic rights. Today's working group will then be looking at how to develop these themes in practice, under the title of Making rights work.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) releases on 9 December the results of its survey of over 23,000 individuals from ethnic minority and immigrant groups about their experiences of discrimination, racist crime, and policing in the EU. The results reveal shocking evidence about the discrimination faced by minorities in everyday life; in the classroom, when looking for work, at the doctor's, or in shops. On the eve of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, the FRA calls for targeted policies to combat the marginalisation of these groups.
FRA Director Morten Kjaerum: "The results of the EU-MIDIS survey reveal the serious difficulties faced by significant numbers of those from ethnic minority and immigrant groups in accessing the most basic of services. Discrimination in education is particularly damaging as it can have a negative impact on young people's opportunities in the labour market. Actors at all levels, from governments to service providers, must use this evidence, collected on the ground through in-depth interviews, to develop targeted policies to prevent the exclusion of these groups from European societies."

On 18 November the FRA youth event Diversity Day had its premiere in Berlin. This was the first in a series of three events this year, which aim to educate young people about fundamental rights and make them aware of the benefits of diversity. The next Diversity Day event took place in Barcelona on 30 November, and the FRA's annual event in Vienna was staged on 3 December.

Yesterday saw the opening of the second annual human rights film festival in Vienna, in proud partnership with the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA). The programme was introduced by Agency representative Friso Roscam-Abbing, who emphasised the importance of film in bringing human rights issues and violations to life, revealing the personal tragedies behind the impersonal statistics.

Around 3,000 young people from Vienna and neighbouring cities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary descended upon the City Hall in Vienna yesterday to discover more about fundamental rights and the many faces and aspects of diversity. Music, dance, workshops, and NGOs all collaborated on creating a vibrant, colourful and engaging atmosphere in which to celebrate individual and cultural identities. The enthusiasm of students, teachers, performers and staff alike made for a fascinating and rewarding day for all concerned.
The FRA welcomes the entry into force of The Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009. The Treaty strengthens and deepens fundamental rights protection in the EU. In particular, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights becomes legally binding. The Charter sets out in a single text, for the first time in the European Union's history, the whole range of civil, political, economic and social rights of European citizens and all persons resident in the EU.

The FRA and the Council of Europe's Anti-discrimination Campaign hosted a workshop for journalism schools and media training institutions on 26-27 November in Vienna to discuss how to strengthen journalistic training on rights issues. The overall aim of the workshop was to review how existing journalist training programmes address human rights issues, in particular diversity and anti-discrimination.

The Agency's second annual Fundamental Rights Conference (FRC) will take place in Stockholm on 10-11 December 2009. This year, the Agency has been inviting interested individuals to respond to our online questionnaire on a topic of the conference: "Equal rights for everyone – a luxury in times of crisis?”.
The questionnaire is now closed, but your comments will feed into the conference and will help to provide participants with both suggestions and solutions.
The Fundamental Rights Conference is a major European Union event on International Human Rights Day. It is a forum for policy-makers, practitioners and experts to examine key fundamental rights challenges and develop courses of action that better guarantee their protection. The conference is held in cooperation with the Swedish Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality under the Swedish Presidency of the EU.
On 17 September 2009 the European Parliament (EP) adopted a Resolution on the Lithuanian Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information. In the resolution, the EP asked the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) to give an opinion on the law and the amendments in the light of the EU Treaties and EU law.
FRA Director Morten Kjaerum answered to the request of the European Parliament with a letter to the President of the EP, Jerzy Buzek, referring to an update of FRA's legal homophobia study in 2010.

The Council of Europe and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) celebrate today the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention has gone a long way to improving the protection of children, who are particularly vulnerable and therefore deserve special protection by all actors.
Twenty years on, there is still a need for continued and concerted governmental action, as well as action by International Organisations and civil society to ensure the respect, protection, and promotion of the rights of the child.
The third Equality Summit takes place on 16-17 November in Stockholm. The FRA will give a keynote introduction to the working group on "Equality Legislation Today and Tomorrow". The Agency will present data on multiple discrimination (discrimination on the grounds of more than one factor) emerging from its EU-MIDIS survey. This data points to the need to develop an effective legal response and corresponding policy to this phenomenon of multiple discrimination. The FRA will also be represented at an information stand.

More than 4,500 young people are expected to come together to learn about fundamental rights and exchange views at FRA Diversity Days in the next three weeks. This series of awareness raising events is organised by the FRA and city partners in Berlin, Barcelona and Vienna.
The online application is available again on the FRA Website. Applicants who have previously successfully submitted their information will not need to re-apply.
The deadline for submission has been extended to 15 December 2009.
This year's Annual Dialogue was a joint Committee of the Regions (CoR) and FRA conference on the Rights of the Child, and took place on 13 November in Brussels. Co-chaired by Jacques Barrot and Luc Van Den Brande, the event brought together both institutional and association representatives, local and regional politicians, practitioners and representatives from civil society, academia and international institutions such as Unicef. The conference aimed to exchange evidence of good practices from concrete projects carried out at local and regional level, promote benchmarking and foster debate on developing policy orientations in this field.

9 November 2009, FRA releases a new report on "The situation of Roma EU citizens moving to and settling in other EU Member States". This report provides evidence that Roma are strongly discriminated against and experience social exclusion when exercising their EU citizens' right of freedom of movement. The FRA report highlights shortcomings but also points out good practices across the EU. It gives concrete recommendations on how the situation could be improved.
The Agency will present its Report and some positive initiatives at a Joint International Conference of the FRA, Council of Europe and the OSCE on Roma migration and freedom of movement, which takes place in Vienna on 09-10 November.
On 16 October the Swedish Presidency presented a "draft of the Stockholm Programme" that is to be adopted at the EU summit in December 2009. Following this publication, the Fundamental Rights Agency has presented the following Opinion paper "FRA Comments on the Presidency Draft Stockholm Programme".
The ‘Towards EU Global Action against Trafficking in Human Beings' high-level ministerial conference was held on 19-20 October on the occasion of the third EU Anti-Trafficking Day. It aimed to develop initiatives at EU level to combat trafficking in human beings.
The Agency made two interventions; one of the welcome speeches was delivered by Chairperson, Anastasia Crickley, and FRA Director Morten Kjaerum was rapporteur of the conference panel on child trafficking.
Read the Final Declaration of the conference.
The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) is pleased to invite non-governmental organisations and other institutions of civil society, active in the field of fundamental rights at national, European or international level to become a member of the Fundamental Rights Platform.
Please submit your online application by 30 November 2009.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on 20 October 2009 presents a new report, which gives evidence that Roma and Travellers are strongly disadvantaged in private and social housing throughout the European Union. They face discrimination in access to housing, poor housing conditions, segregation, and forced evictions. Many Roma are unaware that laws exist to prohibit their discrimination. The FRA report highlights shortcomings, but also good practices across the EU.
Morten Kjaerum participated in a joint debate of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and the Sub-committee on Human Rights (DROI), taking place in Brussels on 30 September. The meeting served as a general exchange of views and to introduce Members of the European Parliament to the Agency's current work and priorities.

The Agency is undertaking a preparatory study, investigating how human rights education can best be linked to key FRA target groups. The promotion and contribution to greater knowledge and awareness of fundamental rights among public institutions and the general public is a core part of the FRA's work. As part of this, the Human Rights Education Round Table on 29-30 September 2009, assisted in identifying areas where the FRA may contribute added value to existing work and enabled it respond to identified needs.
On 15 and 16 of June Morten Kjaerum addressed the Ministers of Justice and the Ministers of Interior at the Informal Council meeting in Stockholm. The core issue of this meeting was the Stockholm Programme that was proposed on 10 June 2009 by the European Commission.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has launched a new website promoting Diversity Day 2009. Celebrating diversity, promoting equality and fighting discrimination will take centre stage at this event on 3 December 2009 at Vienna City Hall. This is the third time that this event, open to young people, teachers, NGOs, institutions and associations, has been organised by the FRA in co-operation with the City of Vienna and the Viennese School Authority. Additional events will take place in cities throughout the EU during 2009, taking Diversity Day to the next level.
Find out more at: http://www.diversityday.eu/

The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), the OSCE and the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights were holding a joint expert seminar on 9 et 10 July in Strasbourg to discuss human rights violations of Roma in the context of freedom of movement and migration. The objective of the seminar was to prepare an international high-level conference on freedom of movement and migration of Roma, which will take place on 05-06 November in Vienna.

On 7 July, the FRA released a report on ‘Child Trafficking in the European Union - Challenges, perspectives and good practices'. The report notes that many children fall victim to trafficking every year and that there are few convictions in child trafficking cases. Overall, the report finds that the EU must do more to address the issue and calls for better legislation to combat child trafficking.
FRA Director Morten Kjaerum: "Every year, a significant number of children in the EU fall victim to trafficking for sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, adoption and organ extraction. These are alarming signals. We must make every possible effort to protect and support these children".

On the 6 and 7 July, the Agency met representatives from those cities that are members of the Local Communities Network (LCN), to discuss human rights at local level. Discussions focused on co-operation, on awareness raising, informed policy-making, the Roma, multiple discrimination and undocumented migrants. The FRA also discussed possibilities for networking activities with cities in the future and how to advance human rights at the local level.
LCN was formed in 2004 to explore the opinions and conclusions of the Agency's report on the "Situation of Muslim Communities at the Local Level". In 2008, the Agency published a follow up report on "Community cohesion at local level: Addressing the needs of Muslim Communities".
The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) hosted its second meeting with National Human Rights Institutions based in the European Union over 29-30 June in Vienna. The two day meeting took stock of progress in relations and cooperation since the first meeting in May 2008. Among the topics of discussion were: identifying priorities for joint action, the involvement of the Human Rights bodies in the work of the Agency and a look ahead to the next round of initiatives and action by the EU in the area of justice, liberty and security namely the stockholm programme.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released on 24 June its Annual Report 2009. The report covers information, events and developments on fundamental rights in the European Union for the year 2008. The Agency's research shows that alarmingly few people are aware of their rights and where to report incidents of discrimination. Poor data collection in the EU-27 continues to hamper the implementation of effective policies to combat discrimination, whilst gaps in legal protection ensure that discrimination continues to thrive in certain areas.




The European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released on 22 April 2009 results of the first ever EU-wide survey on immigrant and ethnic minority groups’ experiences of discrimination and racist crime. The survey reveals that discrimination, harassment and racially motivated violence are far more widespread than recorded in official statistics.


