Human Rights Protection in the European Union

This article aims to describe the current status of human rights in the European Union (EU) legal system. Although it is an important issue in the EU, there was no primary focus although this organization is not primarily focused on it previously. In other words, the European Communities had not paid as much attention to this issue as they should have. However, eventually, as the EU evolved, it established strong mechanisms for the protection of human rights. An important step in this direction was the adoption of the EU Charter on Human Rights, with binding effect on Member States. The rights envisaged in the Charter have been protected in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) through procedures for preliminary rulings and actions for annulment. The Lisbon Treaty confirmed the position of this act and human rights in general in the legal system of the EU. The ECJ considers the European Convention on Human Rights and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, although they belong to another European system of human rights protection. Together, they provide significant protection to individual human rights. The recent jurisprudence of the ECJ indicates that this protection will remain in the focus of the EU.