1. EU Agency for Fundamental Rights
Second Working Meeting of the ECGFA NET II project
13 July 2017
Vasco Malta

2. FRA’s mission
Helping to make fundamental rights a reality for everyone in the EU by providing comparative data, evidence-based expertise and advice to EU Institutions and the Member States as well as raising awareness.

3. FRA’s role and tasks
Independent, evidence-based advice: assistance and expertise on fundamental rights issues to EU institutions and EU Member States when they implement EU law
Information & data collection: socio-legal research & comparative analysis
promote dialogue with civil society to raise public awareness of rights and actively disseminate information about its work
(Council Regulation (EC) 168/2007 of 15 /02/2007)
Mission to help make fundamental rights a reality for everyone in
the EU

4. The FRA is not…
A ‘monitoring’ body nor a dispute settlement body like the UN treaty bodies or European Court of Human Rights:
No power to decide on individual complaints
No power to address/assess individual Member States BUT Thematic Situation Reports (Greece, 2011)
Does not systematically screen proposals for legislation

5. MAF: Multi-annual Framework (2013-2017) 9 Thematic Areas
a) Access to justice
b) Victims of crime, including compensation to victims
c) Information society
d) Roma integration
e) Judicial cooperation, except in criminal matters
f) Rights of the child
g) Discrimination on all grounds
h) Asylum, immigration and integration
i) Racism, xenophobia and related intolerance

6. FRA Stakeholders
EU Institutions (EP, COM, Council), Advisory Bodies (CoR, EESC), selected EU Agencies
Specialised Bodies – NHRIs, Equality Bodies, Ombudspersons
Member States – National, Regional & Local Government
FRA
IGOs – Council of Europe, UN, OSCE
Civil Society (FRP, academia, social partners etc.)

7. Examples of FRA work/publications

8. FRA work in the “Hotspots”
Given the fundamental rights challenges arising from responding to the increased migratory pressure, the Agency has been providing fundamental rights expertise to the European Commission, EASO and Frontex in the hotspots in Greece and Italy ;
In October 2015, for example, the Agency published a checklist to act in compliance with fundamental rights when obtaining fingerprints for the EU’s fingerprinting database, Eurodac;
To address some fundamental rights challenges, the Agency carried out a number of activities in Greece and Italy, such as a workshop on guardianship for unaccompanied children; ;

9. Cooperation with CEPOL 2016 & 17
FRA is offering between webinars per year to CEPOL’s audience
In 2016: 11 FRA Speakers on 10 webinars
Evaluation: Average satisfaction rate from the participants was 93.59% in 2017
Provision of contacts and material for the development of a Human Rights curricula for law enforcement missions;
Provision of practices and contacts (experts and trainers) in relation to CEPOL’s Hate crime certification programme;

10. Possible Future Cooperation / webinars
Persons with disabilities
2) Interviewing children victims and witnesses of crime
3) Roma integration
4) Ensuring rights of victims of crime
5) Gender based violence
6) Human Rights and Police Ethics/Detention conditions and handling
of Detained persons
7) Severe forms of labour exploitation – cooperation between police
and labour inspectorates
8) Diversity, non-discrimination or discriminatory ethnic profiling
9) Police and Public relations/ media cooperation in a diverse society
10) Police human resources management in a diverse society

11. Cooperation with the European Judicial Training Network
FRA participated in two trainings on human rights and Access to Justice in the EU, in Rome and La Valletta, targeting Judges and prosecutors from all EU ;
Hard Copies of FRA handbooks on Access to Justice were distributed among all the participants, in different languages;
A FRA expert was present in both trainings;
A Study Visit to FRA, organised by EJTU, is foreseen in the end of 2017;
A workshop on the Charter on Fundamental, targeting judges and prosecutors from all EU, is foreseen for 2018

12. Cooperation with the Academy of European Law (ERA)
A study visit to FRA, organised by ERA, is foreseen to 2018;
FRA will participate in the following ERA events:
a) Annual Conference on European Migration Law – Focus on the Reform of the EU Legal Migration System and Integration Issues, organised under the Patronage of the Maltese Presidency, Brussels, June 2017
b) Seminar on the Recent Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights in Asylum Matters, Strasbourg, European Parliament, 1-2 June 2017
Hard copies with FRA material is always made available to all participants

13. Cooperation with other legal practitioners networks
CoE / HELP Programme
European Commission
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
The Council of Bars and Law societies of Europe (CCBE)

14. FRA Training Example - Return Monitoring
International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD)
Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
20 monitors from 16 Member States
(22–26 February in Vienna)
Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior’s Specialised SWAT unit, COBRA
EU’s Border Agency (Frontex)

15. Thank you for your attention!
Any Questions?