ENNHRI - Report - "State of the rule of law in the European Union 2020"

ENNHRI (the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions) published in June 2020 its first annual report on the state of the rule of law in Europe. Based on the perspectives of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), this is ENNHRI's contribution to the first EC Report on the Rule of Law.

The trends which emerge from the report point to a number of challenges related to the rule of law environment across wider Europe, including:

• Common issues affecting the independence and effectiveness of NHRIs, including a lack of adequate resources and insufficient consultation and cooperation with NHRIs;
• Restrictions on civil society space, in particular in the form of limited access to funding, regulatory measures having a disproportionate impact on the rights and freedoms of human rights defenders and civil society organisations, limitations to freedom of assembly and instances of threats, harassment and smear campaigns targeting human rights defenders;
• Pressure on democratic checks and balances, such as the use of special or accelerated legislative procedures, limited consultation and impact assessments, in particular on human rights, deficiencies of judicial control including non-execution of judgments as well as limitations affecting the electoral systems;
• Shortcomings impacting on the independence, quality and efficiency of justice systems, including delays in delivering justice, appointment of judges, obstacles to the enforcement of judgments and inadequate legal aid systems, which affect particularly the enjoyment by vulnerable groups of their right to access to justice;
• Threats to media pluralism, including attacks and hate speech targeting journalists and media actors and government’s interference in media independence;
• Obstacles to eradicating corruption.

Given the relevance to the rule of law of many of the measures taken by governments to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, the report also offers an overview of the most significant impacts identified by ENNHRI members in relation to such measures in their countries. Concerns shared among NHRIs in this regard include the way measures are adopted in the context of the state of emergency; the lack of clarity and predictability of measures impacting on the enjoyment of fundamental rights; the situation of vulnerable groups (including the elderly, persons with disabilities, children, women, persons deprived of liberty, national and ethnic minorities as well as migrants and asylum seekers); and the severe restrictions to a number of fundamental rights and freedoms such as access to justice, the right to health, the right to information, freedom of assembly, privacy and the right to family life.