Human Rights Law and Evidence-Based Policy: The Impact of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency

281 Pages·2019·10.631 MB·English

by  Rosemary Byrne, Han Entzinger

Human Rights Law and
Evidence-Based Policy
The EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) was established to provide evi-
dence-based policy advice to EU institutions and Member States. By blending
social science research with traditional normative work, it aims to influence
human rights policy processes through new ways of framing empirical realities.
The contributors to this volume critically examine the experience of the Agency
in its first decade, exploring FRA’s historical, political and legal foundations and
its evolving record across major strands of EU fundamental rights. Central
themes arising from these chapters include consideration of how the Agency
manages the tension between a mandate to advise and the more traditional
approach of human rights bodies to ‘monitor’, and how its research impacts the
delicate equilibrium between these two contesting roles. FRA’s experience as
the first ‘embedded’ human rights agency in transnational governance is also
highlighted, suggesting a role for alternative and less oppositional orientations
for human rights research. While authors observe the benefits of the techno-
cratic approach to human rights research that is a hallmark of FRA’s evidence-
based policy advice, they also note its constraints. FRA’s policy work requires
a continued awareness of political realities in Brussels, Member States, and civil
society. Consequently, the complex process of determining the Agency’s
research agenda reflects the strategic priorities of key actors. This is an important
factor in the Agency’s role in the EU human rights landscape. This pioneering
position of the Agency should invite reflection on new forms of institutionalized
human rights research for the future.
Rosemary Byrne is Professor of Legal Studies at New York University Abu
Dhabi.
Han Entzinger is Professor Emeritus at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where
he previously held the chair in Migration and Integration Studies.
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China’s Human Rights Lawyers
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Eva Pils
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Cathal M. Doyle
Civil and Political Rights in Japan
A Tribute to Sir Nigel Rodley
Edited by Saul J. Takahashi
Human Rights, Digital Society and the Law
A Research Companion
Edited by Mart Susi
Criminal Theory and International Human Rights Law
Steven Malby
Women’s Health and the Limits of Law
Domestic and International Perspectives
Edited by Irehobhude O. Iyioha
For more information about this series, please visit:
www.routledge.com/Routledge-Research-in-Human-Rights-Law/book-series/
HUMRIGHTSLAW
Human Rights Law and
Evidence-Based Policy
The Impact of the EU Fundamental
Rights Agency
Edited by Rosemary Byrne and
Han Entzinger
Firstpublished2020
byRoutledge
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TypesetinGalliard
bySwales&Willis,Exeter,Devon,UK
ī ̄
This volume is dedicated to Dr Krist ne Kruma, an excep-
’
tional scholar and a much-appreciated member of FRA s
fi
Scienti c Committee from June 2013 until her passing on
4 July 2016.
ī ̄ ’
Dr Krist ne Kruma s career spanned academia and public
fi
service. As an academic, she taught rst at the University of
Latvia (where I was privileged to have her as my under-
graduate European Union law lecturer) and then at the
Riga Graduate School of Law, where she became the Asso-
̄
ciate Professor and Pro-rector. Dr Kruma taught and
researched both public international law and European
Union law. Her monograph, EU Citizenship, Nationality
and Migrant Status: An Ongoing Challenge (Martinus
fl
Nijhoff, 2014), and her most in uential articles explored
the role of citizenship in the contemporary legal order(s).
She took her undergraduate degree from the University of
’
Latvia and her master s and doctorate in law (LL.D.) from
the University of Lund.
Dr Krū ma started her public service at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in Latvia, where she was the Head of the
International Organizations and Human Rights Policy Div-
ision at a time when crucial policy decisions were made
regarding the relationship with the Council of Europe, the
European Union and NATO. She was (and remains) the
youngest appointment to the Constitutional Court of
Latvia, where she served as a Judge from 2007 to 2015.
Judge Krū ma was widely perceived to be the leading liberal
fi
gure on the bench, as one can glimpse from her (rare but
fl
in uential) separate opinions. The exceptional respect in
̄
which Dr Kruma was held by the professional and academic
fl
community is re ected in her international appointments as
an arbitrator of the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbi-
tration, an ad hoc Judge of the European Court of Human
Rights, a member of the European Commission against
Racism and Intolerance and, of course, a member of the
’ fi
EU Fundamental Rights Agency s Scienti c Committee.
̄
Dr Kruma combined the highest professionalism, serious-
ness of purpose and unaffected modesty with impatience
for pretentiousness and humbug, as well as a wonderfully
irreverent sense of humour. Her passing is a great loss for
those who knew and loved her, and those who care about
the rule of law in Latvia and Europe. She is survived by her
husband and their daughter.
Martins Paparinskis
Contents
Foreword x
MICHAELO’FLAHERTY
Listofeditorsandcontributors xii
Introduction 1
ROSEMARYBYRNEANDHANENTZINGER
PARTI
FRAanditspolicyenvironment 11
1 ThegenesisoftheEUFundamentalRightsAgency:whya
thinktankratherthanamonitoringbody 13
OLIVIERDESCHUTTER
2 Anewagency,andsowhat?GivingfleshandbloodtoFRA’s
foundingRegulation 28
MORTENKJÆRUM
3 Handinhandforabetterprotectionofhumanrightsin
Europe:therelationshipbetweentheCouncilofEurope
andFRA 43
TATIANATERMACIC
4 FRA’spolicyimpactandfutureposture:lessonsfromthe
perspectiveoftheEuropeanCommission 57
SALLASAASTAMOINEN
5 Humanrightscommunicators:FRA’sevolvingvoiceon
research,rightsandpolicy 69
ROSEMARYBYRNE
viii Contents
6 ExploringthepoliticalroleofFRA:mandate,resourcesand
opportunities 82
JANWOUTERSANDMICHALOVÁDEK
PARTII
Researchingappliedrights 103
7 FRAasameetingplaceoflawandsocialsciences 105
HANENTZINGERANDGERARDQUINN
8 AreflectiononthequalityofFRA’sresearchand
methodology 117
ANGELAME
9 Equalityandinclusion:designingresearchtoreconcilerights,
ideasandpolicypracticesatFRA 131
HANENTZINGER
10 FRA’seffortstocombathatred,xenophobiaandracism 143
FRANÇOISETULKENS
11 Promotingequality:FRA’sworkonRoma 158
JOSÉMANUELFRESNOANDJOHANNANIEMI
12 Violenceagainstwomen:policyimpactandFRA’sevidence-
basedresearch 172
ROMANWIERUSZEWSKIANDKATARZYNASĘKOWSKA-KOZŁOWSKA
13 Bordersandmigrationcontrol:FRA’sresearchatprotection
blackspots 185
JENSVEDSTED-HANSEN
14 EmbeddedEUresearchonrefugeeprotection:FRA’swork
onasylumandirregularmigration 197
ROSEMARYBYRNE
PARTIII
Overcomingconstraints 207
15 FRA’sresponsetothecurrenthumanrightschallenges 209
MANFREDNOWAKANDANNAMÜLLER-FUNK
Contents ix
16 UpholdingtheruleoflawintheEU:whatroleforFRA? 219
LAURENTPECHANDJOELLEGROGAN
17 Concludingreflectionsonhumanrightslaw
andevidence-basedpolicy 237
ROSEMARYBYRNEANDHANENTZINGER
Index 251