European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
| European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights FRA |
|
|---|---|
 FRA logo |
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| English name | European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights |
| French name | Agence des droits fondamentaux de l'Union européenne |
| Organization type | European Union Agency |
| status | Establishment of European public law with its own legal personality |
| Seat of the organs | Vienna , Austria |
| founding |
February 15, 2007 |
| FRA | |
The Fundamental Rights Agency ( FRA , English European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights ), based in Vienna is one of the European Union created (EU) Commission of Experts that the protection of fundamental rights to monitor in Europe. The legal basis for the agency is the EU Council Regulation 168/2007 of February 15, 2007.
tasks
The FRA's predecessor organization was the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC). Unlike the EUMC, which only had to monitor the occurrence of racism and xenophobia, the FRA's mandate ties in with the fundamental rights in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union . On the basis of the multiannual framework 2007-2012 set by the EU Council Decision 2008/203 / EC of February 28, 2008, the agency is dedicated to the following subject areas:
- Racism , xenophobia and related intolerance;
- Discrimination on the grounds of sex , racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability , age or sexual orientation and discrimination against persons belonging to minorities and any combination of these grounds ( multiple discrimination );
- Compensation of victims;
- Rights of the child including child protection ;
- Asylum , immigration and integration of migrants ;
- Visas and border control ;
- Participation of the citizens of the Union in the democratic functioning of the EU;
- Information society and in particular respect for privacy and protection of personal data ;
- Access to an efficient and independent judiciary .
The agency prepares scientific studies that inform the EU institutions, member states , candidate countries and potential EU candidate countries as well as the public about possible grievances and point out solutions. The agency also advises the EU institutions on European legislation. However, the FRA does not deal with individual complaints against violations of fundamental rights; this is the task of the European Court of Human Rights .
organization
The agency has the following bodies:
- Board of Directors
- Executive Committee
- Scientific Committee
- director
The administrative board is the agency's planning and monitoring body. Its members are people with experience in the administration of public or private sector organizations and with knowledge of fundamental rights. It is composed of an independent person appointed by each member state, an independent person appointed by the Council of Europe and two representatives from the European Commission .
The Executive Committee prepares the decisions of the Administrative Board and assists and advises the Director. It consists of the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Administrative Board, two other members of the Administrative Board and one of the representatives of the European Commission on the Administrative Board. The person appointed by the Council of Europe to the Management Board can attend the meetings of the Executive Committee.
The Scientific Committee guarantees the scientific quality of the FRA's work. It is made up of eleven independent people who are highly qualified in fundamental rights issues. The Board of Directors appoints the members according to a transparent job posting and selection process.
The FRA is headed by a director who is responsible for the performance of the Agency's tasks and personnel issues. Following a public call for tenders and a selection process involving the EU institutions, the Management Board decided on March 7, 2008 to appoint Morten Kjærum from Denmark as the Agency's first director. He took up his position on June 1, 2008. On March 31, 2015 he left FRA to head the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden from April 1, 2015. Since December 16, 2016, Professor Michael O'Flaherty has been the new Director.
In addition, the FRA has a fundamental rights platform through which it works with selected civil society organizations.
criticism
The human rights organization Amnesty International (ai) initially criticized the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, which opened on March 1, 2007. AI Europe Office boss Dick Oosting criticized the agency's overly limited mandate, because "the EU states do not want to be influenced by their human rights policy". Other voices saw the creation of the agency as a duplication of tasks that were already being carried out by the Council of Europe or the OSCE . However, the specific areas of responsibility of these organizations only overlap marginally, and representatives of the organizations welcomed the fact that joint action against discrimination could now be even more efficient. To this end, an agreement on cooperation between the FRA and the Council of Europe was concluded in August 2008.
Web links
- FRA on the EU europa.eu website
- Agency website (German)
- European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights at europa.eu
- Gabriel Nikolaij Toggenburg: The EU Fundamental Rights Agency: Satellite or Guiding Star? Reason for existence, tasks and challenges of the new agency of the European Union. Expert analysis at the Science and Politics Foundation (PDF)
- Gabriel N. Toggenburg: The Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union: Perspectives, Tasks, Structures and Environment of a New Institution in the European Human Rights Area. Article in MenschenRechtsMagazin 1/2007.
- Council Regulation (EC) No. 168/2007 of February 15, 2007 establishing a European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Regulation (EC) No. 168/2007 of the Council of February 15, 2007 establishing a European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights , accessed on May 22, 2013
- ↑ Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (English WP)
- ^ FRA, the Fundamental Rights Platform and Civil Society. Website of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
- ^ Agreement on cooperation between the FRA and the Council of Europe. FRA website. Retrieved August 1, 2012./
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Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 53.4 " N , 16 ° 22 ′ 28.6" E