As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, authorities across the European Union adopted myriad restrictive measures to protect people’s lives and health. These interfered with a wide range of fundamental rights, such as to movement and assembly; to private and family life, including personal data protection; and to education, work and social security. The pandemic and the reactions it triggered exacerbated existing challenges and inequalities in all areas of life, especially affecting vulnerable groups. It also sparked an increase in racist incidents. 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.

In this chapter:

1. An unprecedented challenge to fundamental rights
2. Emergency measures: Impact on fundamental rights
3. Impact of the pandemic on fundamental rights in daily life
4. Impact of pandemic on rights of particular groups

The year 2020 marked a special milestone for the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. On 7 December, it was exactly 20 years since the EU proclaimed the Charter in Nice. The European Commission used that date to launch its new ‘Strategy to strengthen the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EU’. The strategy puts increased focus on the Charter’s application in the Member States and on the role of national actors in making the Charter effective in people’s lives. It provides a blueprint for further collective efforts in the years to come. The Commission also encouraged a more concerted implementation of the Charter at EU level. Meanwhile, its use by national courts, parliaments, governments and other actors continued to show mixed results. National courts paid growing attention to the Charter, but government measures to promote its application remained sparse. Although the COVID-19 crisis strained fundamental rights protection, it also spurred more attention to the EU’s bill of rights.

In this chapter:

1. A shared responsibility
2. The Charter and the judiciary
3. The Charter and lawmakers
4. The Charter and government policies
5. The Charter and other actors

The European Commission in 2020 adopted major strategies and action plans to promote a Union of Equality, forging a comprehensive framework for EU and national action. While the adoption of the Equal Treatment Directive remained stalled, the Commission highlighted the need to strengthen equality bodies and improve equality data. Efforts to promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people gained momentum with the adoption of the first-ever EU strategy on LGBTIQ equality. However, evidence also showed that, in some areas and Member States, LGBTIQ people’s experiences of discrimination and hate crime are increasing. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures it prompted sometimes exacerbated social inequalities, with older persons hit particularly hard.

In this chapter:

1. EU initiatives energise equality push while Equality Treatment Directive remains stalled
2. Promoting equality at national level
3. Need to bolster equality bodies persists
4. Equal treatment and rights of older persons during the pandemic and beyond
5. A long way to go for LGBTI equality

The year 2020 was a challenging one. The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the surface existing racism, xenophobia and related intolerance and exacerbated them. The health crisis was increasingly used as a pretext to attack minorities – including migrants, people with immigrant backgrounds and Roma – who were already subject to racial and ethnic discrimination, hate speech and hate crime. The Black Lives Matter movement mobilised societies across the globe to address racism and discrimination by law enforcement authorities. The European Commission adopted its first ever anti-racism action plan, setting out concrete measures for tackling racism and ethnic discrimination in the EU. A number of EU Member States took steps to develop national anti-racism action plans and other measures to address extremism, hate crime and hate speech.

In this chapter:

1. Discrimination, hate and violence remain powerful scourges
2. Implementing the legal framework against racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and related intolerance
3. National efforts to tackle racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, extremism and hate crime

The first EU Framework on National Roma Integration Strategies ended in 2020, and the new 10-year strategic framework started in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first framework brought little overall progress. Evaluations show some gains in education and poverty reduction, but none, or even deterioration, in crucial areas such as employment, healthcare and housing. The new EU Roma Strategic Framework for equality, inclusion and participation sets ambitious targets in seven key areas: non-discrimination, inclusion, participation, education, employment, health and housing. It sets out a stronger monitoring framework, with a range of quantifiable and measurable targets to track progress. Meanwhile, the pandemic affected Roma and Traveller communities disproportionately by amplifying inequalities and, in some countries, fuelling antigypsyism and anti-Roma prejudice.

In this chapter:

1. Towards a new effort to improve Roma lives in the EU
2. A new EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation until 2030

Respect for fundamental rights at borders remained one of the top human rights challenges in the EU. Deaths at sea, delays in assigning a safe port to rescued migrants and threats against humanitarian rescue boats continued. So did allegations of pushbacks and violence. The European Commission presented a new Pact on Migration and Asylum, a package of hard law proposals and soft law documents that puts a stronger focus on border procedures and proposes new forms of solidarity. Meanwhile, asylum procedures were adapted to cope with COVID-19-related restrictions. The EU made progress in establishing its large-scale information technology (IT) systems and started exploring the use of artificial intelligence for border control and migration management. Following Brexit, citizens of the United Kingdom became subject to new rules.

In this chapter:

1. Fundamental rights at borders
2. Asylum, immigration, and return procedures during COVID-19 pandemic
3. EU large-scale information systems and fundamental rights
4. Refugee and migrant integration

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred the development and uptake of innovative technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), to counter its spread. In parallel, the ongoing use of AI technologies brought concerns over the rights to data protection and privacy (alongside other rights, such as non-discrimination). EU and international bodies swiftly responded by emphasising applicable data protection standards. At the same time, the EU continued its work on regulating the use of AI. It published a white paper and accompanying report that recognised the role of fundamental rights – alongside ethical frameworks – in ensuring rights-compliant use of AI. The EU institutions and EU Member States also further developed policies and laws that affect privacy and data protection, in areas ranging from data retention and surveillance to the fight against child sexual abuse material.

In this chapter:

1. Data protection moved forward, but new threats emerge
2. Reconciling rights - data protection and its limits in select fields
3. Artificial intelligence: Need for strong fundamental rights safeguards

The COVID-19 pandemic put unprecedented strain on children and families across the EU in 2020, especially those who were already economically or socially disadvantaged. Despite Member States’ efforts, distance education was a challenge for children who lack computers or internet access, or live in overcrowded households. The threat of abuse at home also loomed large. Children continued to submit fewer asylum applications, but their reception conditions remained inadequate in several Member States. Ten Member States welcomed 573 unaccompanied children and 771 children in families who were relocated from the Greek ‘hotspots’. Most Member States incorporated into national law the Procedural Safeguards Directive for children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal procedures. However, infringement procedures against seven Member States remain open. The European Commission undertook extensive consultations on the EU strategy on the rights of the child, which it plans to adopt in 2021.

1. COVID-19 exacerbates already poor living conditions
2. Children's rights in asylum and migration
3. Children in judicial proceedings: Incorporating the Procedural Safeguards Directive into national law

At EU level, 2020 brought significant innovations in the political and institutional framework on victims’ rights. The European Commission established a victims’ rights coordinator, adopted its first victims’ rights strategy, for 2020–2025, and set up a victims’ rights platform. At national level, the COVID-19 pandemic largely dictated developments. It drew attention to domestic violence and to difficulties in ensuring access to justice during times of severely restricted mobility and public life. Meanwhile, challenges to judicial independence persisted in several Member States. The Commission published its first ever rule of law report in 2020, and the European Council adopted the Regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget.

In this chapter:

1. EU and Member States strive to improve victims' rights protection
2. Victims of gender-based and domestic violence
3. Challenges to judicial independence report

The European Commission started to develop a new disability strategy in 2020, initiating a consultation process that continued throughout the year. It will launch a new strategy in the first quarter of 2021. The European Parliament and Council reached a political agreement on a new Common Provisions Regulation governing EU funds, which covers the rights of persons with disabilities. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic put to the test the duty of the EU and its Member States to comply with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Member States introduced a wide range of measures that significantly affected the rights of persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities and their representative organisations, as well as the structures set up under the CRPD to protect them, took action to ensure that these measures comply with the Convention. Overall, the pandemic underlined the importance of involving persons with disabilities and their representative organisations in situations of risk, and the value of strong national CRPD structures.

In this chapter:

1. The CRPD and the EU: New strategy and pandemic takes centre stage
2. CRPD in EU Member States: Pandemic highlights need for appropriate responses to needs of persons with disabilities
3. CRPD monitoring frameworks: Key challenges