Since 2011, the German Institute for Human Rights has been the German ‘focal point’ for reporting to the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) in Vienna as part of the Agency's FRANET research network. FRANET is the Agency's multidisciplinary research network, consisting of contracting parties in each EU member state and the candidate countries Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. Based on a framework agreement concluded with the Agency, the German Institute for Human Rights provides the Agency with comprehensive legal and social science studies on the fundamental rights situation in Germany in various priority areas of the Agency.
Within the FRA's multi-year thematic framework the following topics are covered
- Access to justice,
- Rights of victims of crime,
- Information society and data protection,
- Integration of the Roma,
- Co-operation on legal issues,
- Rights of the child,
- Protection against discrimination,
- Immigration and integration,
- Visas,
- Border control and
- Asylum and racism.
The reports of the German Institute for Human Rights form the basis for the preparation of comparative reports that analyse the respective topic and its problems throughout the EU. With its reporting function within the FRANET network, the German Institute for Human Rights aims to strengthen the Fundamental Rights Agency as a key player in preventive regional human rights protection and to expand its competences in European fundamental rights protection.
