Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
The Centre is an independent academic institution monitoring human rights developments both domestically and worldwide, issuing a monthly Bulletin, as well as organizing conferences.
The Constitutional Court (Court) has dismissed constitutional complaints filed by the political party Volt Czechia [1] and has ruled that the formal definition of „coalition“ in Czech election law shall be upheld.
Artificial intelligence is changing the world – but who will protect our rights when algorithms take decisions? This was one of the topics discussed at the summer school in Braga.
This summer, in July, I attended a summer school in Portugal. We were welcomed in Braga by students from the University of Minho. Throughout the week, we had 20 hours of academic programming covering autonomous vehicles, data protection, AI patents, and human rights violations by Artificial intelligence (AI).
The year 2024 marked a significant weakening of the rule of law in Slovakia. The European Commission’s report highlights political attacks on judges, stigmatization of NGOs, restrictions on freedom of assembly, and interference with media independence. Despite a few positive steps, prevailing trends undermine public trust in institutions and push Slovakia to the borderline between European democratic standards and their gradual erosion.
As we have already informed on our Blog, the return of Donald Trump to the White House influenced the status quo of human rights in the entire world. In the midst of the unprecedented cuts to US foreign aid, but also worldwide tariffs reaching almost the scale of a trade war, outrageous proposals for a forced displacement of the inhabitants of Gaza, or unpredictably changing stances on Russia and Ukraine, one can easily lag behind all the latest Trump’s steps shaping the state of human rights in the US itself. However, it might be primarily the situation inside the US which deserves global attention now. What has changed in this aspect during the last half year, and what might be expected in the following months?
In recent years, we’ve seen an impressive improvement in the development of artificial intelligence, which also has led to the creation of deepfakes. Deepfakes are fake images, videos or audio recordings created to appear as realistic as possible. While deepfake technology can create harmless content, for example satire, 98% of all deepfake videos online are sexually explicit. This article will explore how deepfakes pose a risk to our fundamental human rights and how national lawmakers are trying to combat them
Unprecedented cuts to foreign aid, sanctions on the International Criminal Court, detentions and deportations of migrants, end of programmes supporting diversity and inclusion, or restrictions on women’s and minorities’ rights. The events of the first months of Donald Trump’s second mandate as the President of the United States have impacted human rights in many ways, mostly in the negative sense. Beyond strong political statements, how concretely have the steps of his second administration affected the state of human rights in the world so far?
Family law and regulation of marriage fall within the competence of individual Member States of the European Union. This includes also the regulation and recognition of same-sex marriages. However, according to the opinion of Advocate General Richard de la Tour in case C-713/23, Member States are obligated to recognize same-sex marriages concluded in other Member State, despite their national sovereignty in this domain.