EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS (FRA)

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) is one of the EU’s decentralised agencies. These agencies are set up to provide expert advice to the institutions of the EU and the Member States on a range of issues. FRA helps to ensure that the fundamental rights of people living in the EU are protected. The FRA is based in Vienna, Austria.

Fundamental rights set out minimum standards to ensure that a person is treated with dignity. Whether this is the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of age, disability or ethnic background, the right to the protection of personal data, or the right to get access to justice, these rights should all be promoted and protected.

Through the collection and analysis of data in the EU, the FRA assists EU institutions and EU Member States in understanding and tackling challenges to safeguard the fundamental rights of everyone in the EU. Working in partnership with the EU institutions, its Member States and other organisations at the international, European and national levels, the FRA plays an important role in helping to make fundamental rights a reality for everyone living in the EU.

The FRA provides the EU institutions and Member States with independent, evidence-based advice on fundamental rights. The aim is to contribute towards ensuring full respect for fundamental rights across the EU.

To do this, the FRA performs the following main tasks:

• Collecting and analysing information and data;
• Providing assistance and expertise;
• Communicating and raising rights awareness.

 FRA’s tasks are carried out in consultation and cooperation with its partners. This allows the agency to:

• Define its areas of work to ensure that its research responds to specific gaps and needs in the fundamental rights field;
• Share expertise, coordinate research on different areas and work together to communicate its advice to the EU and its Member States. In this way, the FRA can create synergies, make the most of its resources, and support other bodies by delivering clear opinions on how to improve fundamental rights protection;
• Ensure that its advice and research reaches policy makers at the right levels of government and EU institutions;
• Develop communication, multimedia and information resources based on a FRA Stakeholder Communication Framework Strategy in order to raise awareness and bring knowledge of fundamental rights to specific target groups and to the European citizen in general.

 The FRA maintains particularly close links with:

• the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union;
• other international organisations, such as the Council of Europe, the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE);
• governments, civil society organisations, academic institutions, equality bodies and National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs).

FRA’s activities are based on the FRA strategic plan. The 2013-2017 strategic plan serves as a basis for FRA’s activities each year during this period. It was developed drawing on input from consultations with a wide range of stakeholders.