In June 2018, FRA published itsFundamental Rights Report 2018.

The report looks at the major developments in the EU between January and December 2017 in 11 chapters. FRA’s opinions are given. The chapters cover the following topics:

The first, focal chapter looks at aging and its effects on the individual, the group, and society as a whole as well as the EU’s increasing focus on the rights of the elderly.

The second chapter analyses the EU Member States’s use of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. According to the report, the Charter’s potential was once again not fully exploited by the judiciary and in legislative processes in 2017. National courts, parliaments, and governments did not make use of the Charter’s full potential.

The third chapter deals with equality and non-discrimination in the EU and finds that unequal treatment and discrimination remain realities in European societies.

Racism, xenophobia, and related intolerance make up the concerns of the fourth chapter. The report look at the anti-racism legislation of the EU Member States. It counts only 14 EU Member States that, by 2017, had action plans and strategies in place, which aimed at combating racism and ethnic discrimination.

The fifth chapter takes stock of the progress regarding Roma integration in the EU and their fundamental rights situation.

Asylum, visas, migration, borders, and integration and their associated risks for fundamental rights are the topics of the sixth chapter.

Chapter seven discusses data protection and data privacy developments, big data, cybersecurity, and the EU’s respective recent reforms.

Chapter eight looks at the rights of children, especially child poverty and social exclusion. According to the report, almost 25 million children in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Progress with regard to access to justice, including the rights of the crime victims, is outlined in chapter nine.

The tenth chapter is dedicated to developments in the implementation of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The last chapter describes key developments during 2017 in relation to a number of core international obligations that the EU and its Member States have taken on.

All chapters, including FRA’s opinions, can also be accessed individually in an online summary available on FRA’s website. Furthermore, all opinions are available in a separate document available on FRA’s website.