EU

=European Union=
 * Photo:** From a Western standpoint, it is easiest to relate and understand the human rights of the people in the European Union. The people are generally satisfied with their human rights, and their human condition, however it is not so vastly different from the rest of the world. [|Source]


 * Primary source 1: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union(available [|here])**

This provides valuable insight into how the EU government operates, their priorities and their overall decision making process. In addition, it shows how individual rights are guaranteed. The Charter of Fundamental Rights provides contrast to Asian bills of rights, which often guarantee societal rights, of rights of the ruling party.


 * Primary source 2: A faith-based view of laws in the EU (available [|here])**

This source documents the legal views of a religious political lobbyist group known as the "European Life Network" based in the EU with a vested moral interest in promoting pro-life and anti gay marriage legislature. This webpage is a documentation of their views these on these issues, as well as a list of grievances for why they are dissatisfied with the current laws. This illustrates that Europe has individuals that dislike governmental, yet do not put Europe "over the line" where these citizens rebel against the establishment due to feeling of dissatisfaction.


 * Artifact 1: A study of population happiness in EU (available** [|here)]

A comparative study between multiple European nations and how their happiness can be directly affected by varying factors, as well as their trust in the government, as well as how varying socioeconomic factors (such as bills, the internet, and living standards) can affect their opinions of the government.

An EU court case ruled that governmental agents may prevent private parties from criticizing the EU government, despite the rights guaranteed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This is a key case in EU law, as it allows censorship in cases where criticism of the government is concerned. However, despite this ruling, people have neither revolted nor expressed extreme disapproval.
 * Artifact 2: Landmark Court Case (available** [|here)]


 * Artifact 3: European Parliament Fact Sheet (available [|here])**

This provides an overview into the applications and "key" court cases in determining EU case-law. This document gives quick explanation into the application of the human rights guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as their practical limits, which can be contrasted with American laws (in the respect that you can take any rights extremely literally) and also against the rights of China, where the state can mandate that a single person is expendable if they do not carry out what the government approves.

However, under the case-law of the Court there are **limits** to the protection of fundamental rights. Such rights are not granted without restraint but must be compatible with the Community's structure and objectives. They must always be considered with regard to the social function of the protected activity (Internationale Handelsgesellschaft [1970] ECR 1125). The principle of proportionality and the guarantee of essential content are further constraints. Consequently where the Community intervenes in the protected sphere of a fundamental right it may neither violate the principle of proportionality nor affect the essential content of that right (Schräder v Hauptzollamt Gronau [1989] ECR 2237 at 15).

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