Abstrakt
In the last 15 years, the European Union continuously developed its operational capabilities and increased its role as security player, having launched since 2003 more than twenty out-of-area operations of various character, ranging from monitoring and humanitarian missions to large scale military operations. The goal of this contribution is to address some of the human rights issues arising in the context of EU military deployments, such as extraterritorial application of human rights and issues arising from the implementation of the EU operation Atalanta.
As it will be shown, identifi cation of applicable human rights norms, but also when and how human rights bind upon the Union when deploying troops outside the territory of its Member States, continues to constitute a complex issue and a signifi cant challenge for the EU.