Ahead of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, which will discuss the current escalation of the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Amnesty International is urging the ministers attending to call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to the conflict. The expanding humanitarian and human rights catastrophe unfolding in Gaza urgently needs to end.
Speaking out against injustice or joining a solidarity march are some of the few tools we – as peoples around the world – have available to try and effect change. Without the right to publicly and peacefully protest – to share messages on social media, write letters and sign petitions – people are silenced.
Ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council on 13 November, Amnesty International has written to High Representative Josep Borrell and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs, urging them to urgently call for a ceasefire to bring an end to the expanding man-made humanitarian and human rights crisis unfolding in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially in Gaza.
74 civil society organisations have written to the European Commission, the European Parliament’s rapporteur, the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council and the Ministers of Justice of all EU Member States to reiterate their concerns regarding the trilogue process of the anti-SLAPP Directive. Amnesty International urges the European institutions to negotiate the strongest possible Anti-SLAPP Directive that effectively protects public watchdogs.
Responding to the announcement that the Italian and Albanian Prime Ministers yesterday signed an agreement to construct two centres in Albania in which to detain people rescued at sea by Italian ships, including people seeking safety, Elisa De Pieri, Regional Researcher at Amnesty International said:
In a letter addressed to President Michel, President Von Der Leyen and High Representative Borrell, in view of ongoing discussions on the future of EU-Türkiye relations and ahead of the 14-15 December European Council, Amnesty International urges the EU leaders to put respect for human rights and support to independent civil society at the forefront of their engagement with the Turkish authorities.
In October 2023, Amnesty International submitted its contribution to a strategic inquiry launched by the European Ombudsman (Own Initiative Inquiry OI/3/2023/MHZ), focused on the role of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, in the context of search and rescue (SAR) operations. The inquiry centred, in particular, on the involvement of Frontex in the shipwreck off the coast of Pylos in June 2023.
Responding to the mounting restrictions being placed by several authorities in Europe on protests defending Palestinian human rights, Esther Major, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Research in Europe, said:
Amnesty International, EuroMed Rights and Human Rights Watch shared a letter with President of the European Council Charles Michel and EU Heads of States and Governments ahead of the 26-27 October meeting of the European Council.
For the attention of Brando Benifei MEP and Dragoş Tudorache MEP,
Amnesty International shared a letter with High Representative Josep Borrell and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs ahead of the 23 October Foreign Affairs Council meeting in relation to the ongoing fighting in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in particular the humanitarian and human rights crisis unfolding in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially in Gaza.
Armita Garawand, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, remains in a coma after falling unconscious on 1 October 2023 at a Tehran metro amid reports that a confrontation with somebody enforcing Iran’s degrading and discriminatory compulsory veiling laws led to her hospitalisation. Her hospitalisation comes against a backdrop of Iranian authorities intensified oppression against women and girls in recent months.