Highlights

  • Report / Paper / Summary
    4
    December
    2025
    Artificial Intelligence comes with both benefits and risks. Safe AI use that accounts for fundamental rights is thus crucial. While the 2024 EU AI Act was a milestone in this regard, its broad definitions regarding AI systems and high-risk AI could introduce loopholes for fundamental rights compliance. This report offers an empirical basis for much-needed practical guidance on the Act’s implementation. Based on interviews with AI developers, sellers, and users, FRA addresses challenges of its use in critical domains, like asylum, education, and employment. Our findings help guide next steps in realising the AI Act’s potential to ensure responsible innovation.
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    24
    May
    2023
    This report provides a partial update on the findings of the 2017 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) report Surveillance by intelligence services: Fundamental rights safeguards and remedies in the EU. It was prepared at the request of the European Parliament, which asked FRA to update its 2017 findings to support the work of its committee of inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA).
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    8
    December
    2022
    Artificial intelligence is everywhere and affects everyone – from deciding what content people see on their social media feeds to determining who will receive state benefits. AI technologies are typically based on algorithms that make predictions to support or even fully automate decision-making.
  • Handbook / Guide / Manual
    25
    May
    2018
    El rápido avance de las tecnologías de la información ha aumentado la necesidad de una protección sólida de los datos personales, y el derecho a dicha protección está garantizado por instrumentos de la Unión Europea (UE) y del Consejo de Europa (CdE). Salvaguardar este importante derecho implica nuevos e importantes retos, a medida que los avances tecnológicos amplían las fronteras de campos tales como la vigilancia, la intervención de las comunicaciones y la conservación de los datos.
    Productos
    Automation and AI have radically transformed how we work, live and play. In this video, Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, discusses the implications of AI for our most basic of human rights.
    16
    September
    2022
    Europe stands at a delicate moment in its history, facing a convergence of major tests. Each of them taken on their own is significant. Together, they pose profound questions about the political, economic, and societal future of the continent. This is a moment for strong commitment to put human rights at the heart of our vision for Europe’s future. It is also time to demonstrate our determination to work together to this end. Against this backdrop, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) brought together around sixty human rights leaders and experts from across the continent to discuss elements of a human rights vision for the future and to identify opportunities for action. A full conference report will be available soon, including the specific ideas and proposals which arose from the meeting. Meanwhile, this is a summary of the conclusions.
    8
    June
    2022
    FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2022 reviews major developments in the field in 2021, identifying both achievements and areas of concern. It also presents FRA’s opinions on these developments, including a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions.
    8
    June
    2022
    This focus looks at the impact of the pandemic on social rights. It examines the measures in national recovery and resilience plans that address the social vulnerabilities among a variety of population groups in the EU, including women, children and young people in situations of vulnerability, people with disabilities, older people, Roma and people in precarious working conditions.
    8
    June
    2022
    En el año 2021 se produjeron tanto avances como retrocesos en materia de protección de derechos fundamentales. El Informe sobre los derechos fundamentales 2022 de la Agencia de los Derechos Fundamentales de la Unión Europea (FRA) analiza los principales acontecimientos en este ámbito, destacando tanto los progresos realizados como las dificultades que todavía persisten. La publicación presenta los dictámenes de la FRA sobre los principales avances realizados en los ámbitos temáticos contemplados, así como un resumen de las pruebas que avalan tales dictámenes. Esto permite disponer de una visión de conjunto, compacta, pero muy ilustrativa, de los principales desafíos en materia de derechos fundamentales a los que se enfrentan la Unión Europea (UE) y sus Estados miembros.
    7
    April
    2022
    BG, EL, HU, RO, SV, and UK version now available
    17 April 2025
    Los niños son titulares plenos de derechos. Son beneficiarios de todos los derechos humanos y fundamentales, y están sujetos a una regulación especial por sus características específicas. El presente manual tiene el propósito de ilustrar el modo en que la legislación y la jurisprudencia europeas se adecuan a los intereses y las necesidades específicas de los niños. Muestra también la importancia de los padres, tutores u otro tipo de representantes legales, y hace referencia, cuando procede, a los supuestos en que los derechos y las responsabilidades se asignan principalmente a los cuidadores de los niños. Este manual tiene el objeto de elevar la sensibilización y mejorar el conocimiento en relación con la normativa que protege y fomenta los derechos de los niños en Europa. Es un punto de referencia en Derecho de la UE y el CdE en relación con estos ámbitos de interés y explica cómo se regula cada cuestión en el Derecho de la UE, incluida la Carta de los Derechos Fundamentales de la Unión Europea, así como el CEDH, la CSE y otros instrumentos del CdE.
    The Fundamental Rights Forum 2021 was the space for dialogue on the human rights challenges facing the EU today. In this video, participants talk about the challenges of fundamental rights in the digital age.
    In this vlog, FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty points to the urgent need to tackle disinformation. He provides examples of what can be done to combat disinformation, including what the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights could contribute to this challenge.
    10
    June
    2021
    En el año 2020 se produjeron tanto avances como
    retrocesos en materia de protección de los derechos
    fundamentales. El Informe sobre los derechos
    fundamentales 2021 de la Agencia de los Derechos
    Fundamentales de la Unión Europea (FRA) analiza
    los principales acontecimientos en este ámbito,
    destacando tanto los progresos realizados como las
    dificultades que todavía persisten.
    10
    June
    2021
    FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2021 reviews major developments in the field in 2020, identifying both achievements and areas of concern. It also presents FRA’s opinions on these developments, including a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions. This year’s focus chapter explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on fundamental rights. The remaining chapters cover: the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; equality and non-discrimination; racism, xenophobia and related intolerance; Roma equality and inclusion; asylum, borders and migration; information society, privacy and data protection; rights of the child; access to justice; and the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
    10
    June
    2021
    This focus looks at COVID-19’s impact on fundamental rights. It underscores that a human rights-based approach to tackling the pandemic requires balanced measures that are based on law, necessary, temporary and proportional. It also requires addressing the pandemic’s socio-economic impact, protecting the vulnerable and fighting racism.
    The COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on everyone. Governments take urgent measures to curb its spread to safeguard public health and provide medical care to those who need it. They are acting to defend the human rights of health and of life itself. Inevitably, these measures limit our human and fundamental rights to an extent rarely experienced in peacetime. It is important to ensure that such limitations are consistent with our legal safeguards and that their impact on particular groups is adequately taken account of.
    Artificial intelligence (AI) already plays a role in many decisions that affect our daily lives. From deciding what unemployment benefits someone gets to where a burglary is likely to take place. But we need to make sure to fully uphold fundamental rights standards when using AI. Drawing on the ‘Getting the future right – Artificial intelligence and fundamental rights’ report, FRA explores the potential benefits and possible errors that can occur focusing on four core areas – social benefits, predictive policing, health services and targeted advertising.
    29
    January
    2021
    En el informe de la Agencia de los Derechos Fundamentales de la Unión Europea sobre inteligencia artificial (IA) y derechos fundamentales se presentan ejemplos concretos de cómo las empresas y las administraciones públicas de la Unión Europea están utilizando o tratan de utilizar la IA. En este resumen se presentan las perspectivas más destacadas del informe. Esto puede servir como fundamento para el intento de las políticas nacionales y de la Unión por regular el uso de las herramientas de IA respetando los derechos fundamentales y humanos.
    Artificial intelligence (AI) already plays a role in many decisions that affect our daily lives. From deciding what unemployment benefits someone gets to where a burglary is likely to take place. But we need to make sure to fully uphold fundamental rights standards when using AI. Drawing on the ‘Getting the future right – Artificial intelligence and fundamental rights’ report, FRA presents a number of key considerations to help businesses and administrations respect fundamental rights when using AI.
    This is a recording from the morning session of the high-level virtual event "Doing Artificial Intelligence the European way" which took place on 14 December 2020.
    This is a recording from the afternoon session of the high-level virtual event "Doing Artificial Intelligence the European way" which took place on 14 December 2020.
    Artificial intelligence is here. It’s not going away. It can be a force for good, but it needs to be watched so carefully in terms of respect for our human fundamental rights. The EU Fundamental Rights Agency is deeply committed to this work.Our ambition is not just to ensure that AI respects our rights, but also that it protects and promotes them.
    Will AI revolutionise the delivery of our public services? And what's the right balance? How is the private sector using AI to automate decisions — and what implications
    might that have? Are some form of binding rules necessary to monitor and regulate the use of AI technology - and what should these rules look like?
    How do we embrace progress while protecting our fundamental rights? As data-driven decision making increasingly touches our daily lives, what does this mean
    for our fundamental rights? A step into the dark? Or the next giant leap? The time to answer these questions is here and now. Let’s seize the opportunities, but understand the challenges. Let’s make AI work for everyone in Europe…And get the future right.