The Court of Justice of the European Union and Human Rights in 2017

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered several highly important judgments and opinions in the field of human rights law. The present article aims to provide an overview of this jurisprudence. It considers the most important cases in the fields of asylum law, the right to hold a European Citizens ‘ Initiative, data protection, non-discrimination, and the rule of law. Following a summary of each case discussed, it analyses the relevant aspects concerning human rights protection. The article finally concludes that the case law of the CJEU in the field of human rights law remains ambivalent. While some cases show further improvement in protecting the individual, other cases still show a strong tendency of relying on a utilitarian approach to human rights. THE RIGHT TO ASYLUM The Right to Asylum under Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) is of immense practical importance as the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) is still struggling with the consequences of the refugee crisis of 2015. The jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2017 on the matter has also clarified issues that are of general importance for EU human rights law and doctrine. THE REFUGEE STATUS Many systems of human rights protection have a general concept that individuals responsible for acts of persecution and violations of human rights should not benefit from fundamental rights and freedoms themselves. Enemies of freedom should not benefit from fundamental rights while they are trying to subvert them. At the very least, the rights of the enemies of human rights can be restricted more severely than those of other beneficiaries. Thus, Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) contains a prohibition of abuse of rights, which makes it clear that the ECHR may not be interpreted as allowing any act aimed at the destruction of the rights guaranteed in the Convention. In the same vein, Article 1 section F of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (CSR51) states that the provisions of the Convention shall not apply to any person who is guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations (UN). The CFR, however, does not contain a similar clause.