Full Description
The EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) was established to provide evidence-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 is also highlighted, suggesting a role for alternative and less oppositional orientations for human rights research. While authors observe the benefits of the technocratic 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.
Contents
Part I: FRA and its policy environment;
Chapter 1: The genesis of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency: why a think tank rather than a monitoring body;
Chapter 2: A new agency, and so what? Giving flesh and blood to FRA's founding Regulation;
Chapter 3: Hand in hand for a better protection of human rights in Europe: the relationship between the Council of Europe and FRA;
Chapter 4: FRA's policy impact and future posture: lessons from the perspective of the European Commission;
Chapter 5: Human rights communicators: FRA's evolving voice on research, rights and policy;
Chapter 6: Exploring the political role of FRA: mandate, resources and opportunities;
Part II: Researching applied rights;
Chapter 7: FRA as a meeting place of law and social sciences;
Chapter 8: A reflection on the quality of FRA's research and methodology;
Chapter 9: Equality and inclusion: designing research to reconcile rights, ideals and policy practices at FRA;
Chapter 10: FRA's efforts to combat hatred, xenophobia and racism;
Chapter 11: Promoting equality: FRA's work on Roma;
Chapter 12: Violence against women: policy impact and FRA's evidence-based research;
Chapter 13: Borders and migration control: FRA's research at protection black spots;
Chapter 14: Embedded EU research on refugee protection: FRA's work on asylum and irregular migration;
Part III: Overcoming constraints;
Chapter 15: FRA's response to the current human rights challenges;
Chapter 16: Upholding the rule of law in the EU: what role for FRA?;
Chapter 17: Concluding reflections on human rights law and evidence-based policy;
