Newsroom

Press Release
To mark this year's anniversary of "the night of the broken glass", the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) publishes a handbook for teachers: Excursion to the past - teaching for the future. The handbook emphasises the link between teaching about the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes, and teaching about human rights and democracy. Teachers and guides of memorial sites or museums are key to ensuring that the connection is recognised between Holocaust and human rights education. However, there is a lack of human rights training available for both groups. The FRA thus encourages national governments to better integrate education on the Holocaust and human rights into their school curricula to reflect the significance of human rights in both the history and the future of the EU.
The FRA will today present its new report on racism, ethnic discrimination and the exclusion of migrants and minorities in sport in the European Union. Delegates at the 16th European Fair Play Congress in Prague will discuss the report's findings, including the need to make sport more inclusive and ways of addressing the underrepresentation of persons belonging to minorities in sport. The FRA report also highlights the lack of data available showing the occurrence of racist incidents in sport. It emphasises the need to develop effective ways of monitoring such incidents among players, referees and club officials, as well as between or by fans.
Press Release
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) is publishing results from a survey of 3,000 Muslim and non-Muslim young people about their experiences of and attitudes towards discrimination, social marginalisation and violence. The results indicate that in the three Member States where the survey took place (France, Spain and the United Kingdom) most young people - regardless of their religious background - do not support violence. On the other hand, those young people who have been victims of discrimination or violence are at greater risk of engaging in violence themselves.
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) is publishing today, at a Symposium of the European Police College (CEPOL), results from the first ever EU-wide survey on police stops and minorities. The findings show that minorities who perceive they are stopped because of their minority background have a lower level of trust in the police. The results from the FRA's survey are launched together with the FRA Guide on discriminatory ethnic profiling.
Press Release
Over 2 million people live with HIV in the European Union and its neighbouring countries. The number of diagnosed infections has been increasing. The rights of people living with HIV and those at risk of infection must be central to the response to the epidemic, stressed the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) today, ahead of the World AIDS Conference 2010.
Protection mechanisms on paper do not yet fully function in practiceThe 2010 Annual Report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) identifies challenges in the areas of data protection, extreme exploitation in the workplace, rights of the child, racism and discrimination, and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) issues.
Today in Warsaw, Frontex Executive Director Ilkka Laitinen signed a cooperation arrangement with the Director of the Fundamental Rights Agency, Morten Kjaerum."Frontex is dedicated to upholding the highest possible standards in border management for the EU - in all its aspects", said Ilkka Laitinen.  "This new cooperation arrangement with our colleagues at the FRA will provide us with access to valuable expertise in the pursuit of this aim", he added.
"I do not know [a legal guardian]. Do I have one?" (Boy, aged 14) "Age assessment was a disappointment for me. [...] I do not have any proof, because there is no government in my country. How could I have any evidence? The worst thing is that  they think I am a liar." (Boy, aged 17) "The policeman said that his child is 15 and understands everything. Then he said: ‘you are 15 and do not understand anything at all. How is that possible?" (Girl, aged 15).
Press Release
International Roma Day 2010: Roma Involvement in Policy Design and Implementation Crucial Roma and Traveller involvement in the design, implementation and evaluation of strategies targeting them is essential to improving the situation of the estimated 10 million Roma in the European Union.
Press Release
Racism and xenophobia continue to affect the day to day lives of a significant number of people within the European Union warned the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights today in a joint statement with the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).
Press Release
On the 18 and 19 February, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) hosted a meeting to discuss its upcoming report on racism and ethnicdiscrimination in sport. The meeting brought together representatives from international sporting organisations such as UEFA, the European Basketball Federation (FIBA), the European Athletics Association and the European Olympic Committee, members of national sporting organisations and delegates from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. The participants discussed the report's draft recommendations and suggested ways in which the recommendations should be prioritised and implemented.
Press Release
In a joint statement issued ahead of tomorrow's International Roma Day (8 April), four leading European human rights bodies today expressed deep concern about the continuing discriminatory treatment and exclusion of the Roma.
At a Ministerial Conference in Auschwitz on the 2010 International Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Holocaust, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) will release 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. The report reveals 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 regarded as 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.
Press Release
The Management Board of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) held elections at their 8th Meeting that took place in Vienna on 14 and 15 December 2009. The Management Board elected Ilze Brands Kehris (Latvia) as its new Chairperson and re-elected Hannes Tretter (Austria) as Vice-Chairperson. Ilze Brands Kehris: "The decade that started with 9/11 and is now ending with the effects of the economic crisis shows that there is no room for complacency with regard to the respect for human rights within the EU.  The FRA's capacity to provide EU institutions and Member States with expertise on fundamental rights, based on analysis of data collected in all 27 Member States, can and should make an important contribution to the formulation of more effective evidence-based policies respectful of fundamental rights within the FRA competences.  It is a great privilege to be elected chairperson of the Management Board of the FRA and in this capacity to participate with the excellent FRA team in the further development of the FRA's work, including cooperation with the Council of Europe, IGOs, civil society and other stakeholders."Hannes Tretter: "I am honoured to be re-elected as member of a very strong and competent team. We are facing now - beside various threats like increasing racism or misuse of personal data and lacks of access to justice - a challenging period since the Treaty of Lisbon opens the door for FRA to deal in future also with the sensitive issues of the former third pillar."
Press Release
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.
Press Release
Co-chaired by Jacques Barrot and Luc Van Den Brande, Rights of the Child will be the focus of a joint Committee of the Regions (CoR) and European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) conference in Brussels on 13 November. The conference takes place as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child celebrates its 20th Anniversary and the Lisbon Treaty begins its journey to make children's rights legally binding in the EU, as enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.  The important question to be addressed is how such texts make a difference on the ground.
Press Release
The serious human rights challenges faced by Roma when migrating or exercising their right to freedom of movement, as well as the security implications, will be the focus of a joint international conference in Vienna on 9-10 November 2009, organised by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (CommHR), the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM).
Press Release
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.