Embedding Fundamental Rights in Foresight: A guide for practitioners

Strategic foresight systematically explores how alternative futures could unfold and uses the resulting insights to inform decisions made today.

Fundamental rights matter in foresight because, as binding legal standards for public authorities, they must guide policymakers when they are assessing future policy options. They also matter because technological, environmental, economic, political and societal changes affect how people exercise their rights in practice, whether safeguards remain effective over time and whether new inequalities or accountability gaps emerge.

Applicable obligations under international human rights law, the EU treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and relevant EU law provide the legal baseline for policy decisions, including those informed by foresight. Better regulation principles provide a related policy framework, but do not have the same legal status as binding fundamental rights obligations.

The terms ‘human rights’ and ‘fundamental rights’ mean largely the same thing, in substance, but they refer to different levels of regulation. Traditionally, the term ‘fundamental rights’ is used when the rights arise in a constitutional context, whereas ‘human rights’ is used when the rights are enshrined in international law. In an EU law context, the term ‘fundamental rights’ is used for all internal EU matters, whereas ‘human rights’ is used in the context of EU external relations. The distinction between the two terms is not always relevant, and therefore the terms may be used interchangeably or to refer to more than one level at the same time.

This guide relates to the obligations of EU institutions and bodies and Member States under the EU treaties, EU secondary law and Article 51(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It therefore largely uses the term ‘fundamental rights’.

Embedding fundamental rights in foresight means systematically considering these rights and corresponding obligations in the design, conduct and use of foresight exercises. This helps identify which rights may be affected, how effects may differ between population groups, who is accountable and what the corresponding obligations require or what safeguards or remedies may be needed under different future conditions. It also encourages the inclusion in foresight exercises of perspectives and experiences that might otherwise be overlooked, including those of people at risk of marginalisation, exclusion or discrimination, as well as future generations.

Making rights implications, unequal effects and existing or possible future legal obligations more visible can improve the relevance and robustness of future-oriented analysis. It can also help ensure that resulting policy responses comply with applicable fundamental rights obligations.