UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD EUROPE Type of engagement Regional Office Countries of engagement Member States of the European Union Year established 2009 Field presence(s) Brussels, Belgium UN partnership framework n/a Staff as of 31 December 2018 9 Total income US$883,230 XB requirements 2018 US$764,100 Total XB expenditure OHCHR’s continued efforts in favour of the human rights of the Roma sought to advance a human rights-based approach to Roma inclusion. OHCHR’s analysis of the mid-term evaluation of the EU’s Roma Framework contributed to steps by the European Commission to include the tackling of the segregation of Roma in education and housing in EU policy. US$888,598 Personnel Non-personnel PSC† 41% 48% 11% $364,359 $422,208 $102,031 Total RB expenditure US$1,040,490 Personnel Non-personnel 78% 22% $814,595 $225,895 Key OMP pillars in 2018 † Please refer to Data sources and notes on p.191. KEY PILLAR RESULTS: Non-Discrimination (ND) ND1 – The European Union (EU) amends and extends its policies on equality and discrimination to reflect international human rights law, especially with respect to Roma, persons with disabilities, older persons, LGBTI persons and women. Both in EU Member States and candidate countries for EU enlargement, the content and implementation of policies on equality and discrimination comply with international human rights law and jurisprudence. Particular attention is given to the desegregation, deinstitutionalization and inclusion of Roma and persons with disabilities, especially women and children. 286 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 EU adopted, in June, new standards to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of national anti-discrimination bodies, similar to the Paris Principles for national human rights institutions. The Office undertook a major advocacy campaign on human rights in view of the development of the next EU budget (Multi-Annual Financial Framework). The campaign, which included the launch of the publication The EU budget: a tool to close human rights gaps in Europe? and several newspaper articles, contributed to the inclusion of programmatic and funding commitments for human rights in the European Commission’s budget proposals for the period after 2020. Partially as a result of OHCHR’s advocacy with the European Commission, the The Office resolutely challenged rising hate speech against Roma in numerous European countries and further contributed to the adoption of a resolution by the European Parliament recognizing anti-gypsyism as a specific form of racism. Building on the work of previous years, OHCHR continued to advocate for the deinstitutionalization of persons with disabilities and children by influencing EU financial instruments. At the level of the EU member States, OHCHR conducted workshops on inclusive education in Belgium and the Netherlands, and undertook advocacy missions to Bulgaria and Latvia. During the reporting period, OHCHR’s support for LGBTI rights advocates in Romania and the EU delivered results when the Romanian Constitutional Court ordered that Mr. Robert Claibourn Hamilton, a citizen of the United States, be issued a residence permit in Romania on the grounds of his marriage to Mr. Relu Adrian Coman, a Romanian citizen. OHCHR provided a detailed summary of international human rights law requirements related to the prohibition of discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation, which was included as part of the pleadings at the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Romanian Constitutional Court. OHCHR joined forces with AGE Platform Europe, an umbrella organization representing approximately 40 million older persons in the EU, to strengthen the human rights knowledge of its members. Concretely, OHCHR and AGE Platform Europe jointly convened an expert discussion to explore the human rights of older people. This helped older persons’ advocates to advocate more effectively for the rights of older persons in Europe and to articulate their needs as human rights claims during the ninth session of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, in New York, in July. ND7 – Across the EU, there is an increase in public support for equality and non-discrimination measures; new strategic partnerships were created to encourage this trend. Due to interventions by the Office, the level of youth engagement and support for human rights messages has increased. The campaign in Europe for the seventieth anniversary of the UDHR focused on the need for inclusion and the benefits of diversity. In September, at the EU Fundamental Rights Forum that was held in Vienna, OHCHR called on the EU to re-focus the narrative on the positive contributions that migrants make to the EU. In the course of the Forum, OHCHR also raised the awareness of an audience of 800 people about ageism, anti-gypsyism, youth and people of African descent. In 2018, OHCHR strengthened its partnership with ODIHR and the European Network against Racism to draw attention of the European public to the International Decade for People of African Descent. At the European Parliament, the Office participated in the launch of the first EU report on being black in the EU. The Office further trained youth activists of African descent. As part of its targeted outreach to youth, the Office organized or co-organized three other major initiatives. These were a regional workshop in collaboration with the European Youth Forum; a full-day discussion on human rights with students from Warsaw University, which was followed by 35,000 people online; and a youth event in Brussels with 2,000 participants. Development (D) D7 – EU institutions further integrate human rights and a human rights-based approach into EU external development programming. The EU and UN Brussels team further integrate a human rights approach into their work on the Sustainable Development Agenda. The Office contributed to improving compliance with international human rights norms and standards of EU institutions. To assist EU staff in integrating a rightsbased approach into their development and external actions and to respond to the need for user-friendly tools, OHCHR launched a manual entitled Making a Difference: An Introduction to Human Rights. The book exists in English and French and is available in hard copy or as a downloadable file at: https://europe. ohchr.org/EN/PublicationsResources/ Pages/Publications.aspx. In addition, the Office provided continuous input, advice and training regarding the integration of human rights and a human rights-based approach to development into EU external action and development programming. Participation (P) P5 – National, regional and international actors act promptly and more effectively to protect civic space, especially in Hungary and Poland. Critical human rights issues that have been raised by OHCHR have been taken up to a greater extent in EU institutions in a timely manner. A major achievement, to which OHCHR contributed through its advocacy campaign around the next EU budget, was the European Commission’s proposal that the EU budget should include a “rule-of-law conditionality” clause (tying the use of EU funds by States to their respect for the rule of law) and a “Justice and Values Fund” to help civil society organizations under threat. At various events by EU institutions, including the EU Fundamental Rights Colloquium and the EU Fundamental Rights Forum, OHCHR called for dedicated EU funding for national and local civil society organizations working on human rights in the EU. Sustained engagement by the Office, particularly in terms of its monitoring and advocacy, bolstered efforts by national, regional and international actors to respond more effectively to challenges to the rule of law and threats to civic space in a number of EU countries. A series of missions, as well as engagement with UN mechanisms and exchanges with civil society and regional actors on developments in Hungary and Poland, helped to maintain a focus on the need for concerted international action. The European Parliament made extensive use of UN human rights standards, for the first time, to take action against an EU member State for breaches of values and rights. The European Parliament grounded its comprehensive resolution while opening the legal proceedings against Hungary UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 287