The European Union and Human Rights

With the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, the profile of human rights issues has greatly risen in relation to EU policies, whether internal or external. The EU has thereby made the commitment to ensure that all its actions are compliant with human rights, and seek to promote them. Yet, the EU's commitment has come under scrutiny, not only for its ground-breaking character, but also because recent events have put it to the test.

This volume has been designed to take stock of these developments, to comprehensively discuss the conceptualization and operationalization of the EU's commitment to human rights throughout the EU's relationships, policies, actions and legislative activity, and to critically assess its outcome. This title is divided into four parts: 'Framework' presents the issues related to human rights promotion by the EU; 'Actors' delves into the relationships that play a part, at home or abroad, in regards to human rights policies and judgements; 'Policies' takes a case-study approach and systematically reviews a range of EU internal and external policies to assess their human rights impact and implementation; and finally, 'Strategies' provides an integrated assessment of the design and implementation of the EU's commitment to human rights.

This book brings together essays from around the world, each discussing different aspects of EU commitment, and evaluating the extent to which the EU is delivering on it. Each chapter provides an introduction to the state of affairs, discusses opportunities and challenges, and provides recommendations. As such, it is an essential reference book on human rights policies throughout the EU and their impact throughout the world.

Forward: a union of values, Herman Van Rompuy
The European Union and human rights: law and policy - an introduction, Jan Wouters, Anna-Luise Chané, Manfred Nowak
Framework
1:From an economic community to a union of values: the emergence of the EU's commitment to human rights, Jan Wouters
2:Factors enabling and hindering the promotion and protection of human rights by the EU, Eva Maria Lassen
3:Conceptual underpinnings of the EU's commitment to human rights, Lorena Sosa and Alexandra Timmer
4:The normative framework of the EU's commitment to human rights: the Treaties, the Charter, Member States' constitutional traditions, and international law, Chiara Altafin, Karin Lukas, Manfred Nowak
5:The EU's institutional human rights architecture, Monika Mayrhofer
Actors
6:The EU's engagement with its Member States on human rights, Jan Wouters
7:The EU's engagement with the United Nations on human rights, Anna-Luise Chané
8:The EU's engagement with the Council of Europe and the OSCE on human rights, Jakub Jaraczewski, Wladyslaw Józwicki, Zdzislaw Kedzia
9:The EU's engagement with non-European regional organizations on human rights, Elizabeth Salmon and Magnus Killander
10:The EU's engagement with the Eastern Partnership on human rights, Pál Dunay
11:The human rights encounter between the EU and its Southern Mediterranean partners, T. Jeremy Gunn and Alvaro Lagresa
12:The EU's engagement with foreign powers on human rights: Brazil, China and India, Francisca Costa Reis, Weiyuan Gao, Vineet Hedge
13:The EU's engagement with civil society on human rights, Jeff Kenner, Katrina Peake, Stuart Wallace
14:The EU's engagement with business on human rights, Mary E. Footer
Policies
15:EU enlargement policy and human rights, Beata Huszka and Zsolt Körtvélyesi
16:EU trade policy and human rights, Nicolas Hachez and Axel Marx
17:Human rights in EU development cooperation, Brecht Lein
18:Human rights in the EU's common security and defence policy, Carmen Marquez Carrasco
19:EU migration policy and human rights, Elina Pirjatanniemi and Maija Mustaniemi-Laakso
20:EU security and counterterrorism policies and human rights, Elina Pirjatanniemi and Mikaela Heikkilä
21:EU human rights and democratization policy, Cristina Churruca Muguruza and Felipe Gómez Isa
22:The EU's engagement with human rights defenders, Wolfgang Benedek
Strategies
23:EU practices on measuring human rights, Markus Möstl, Maddalena Vivona, Isabella Meier, Klaus Starl
24:The EU's (strategic) use of human rights tools and instruments, Manfred Nowak and Karolina Podstawa
25:Towards ever greater coherence? Human rights policies in the evolving EU, Lisa Ginsborg and Graham Finlay
26:Conclusion: delivery, coherence and effectiveness - a triple challenge for the EU's commitment to human rights, Nicolas Hachez