10 steps for the EU to ensure sustainable and rights-based asylum systems

Together with 16 other international human rights organizations, Amnesty International calls on EU leaders attending COP29, the 29th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Baku, to raise directly with the Azerbaijani authorities the cases of those imprisoned on politically motivated grounds and aim to secure their release. In this joint statement, our organizations call on the EU to use the rare international spotlight of COP29 to speak publicly and achieve concrete improvements for civil society, independent media, and human rights defenders in the country.

Ahead of today’s European Commissioner hearings, Amnesty International is calling on Commissioner-designates for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, and for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, to urgently reject calls to offshore asylum and returns and firmly uphold a rights-based asylum and migration policy in Europe. 

Dear High Representative Borrell,

Reacting to the Polish government’s new migration strategy which cites the threat of Russia and Belarus using migration to ‘destabilize the country’ and proposes temporary suspension of the right to seek asylum, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake said:

Ahead of the meeting of Heads of State or Government of EU member states this 17-18 October, Amnesty International urges European leaders to focus their efforts on humane and sustainable policies towards refugees and migrants, and to firmly reject proposals to establish ‘return hubs’ outside the EU.

On 11 October, Amnesty International shared a letter with EU leadership, heads of EU governments and EU foreign affairs ministers, as they prepared to discuss the situation in the Middle East at the 14 October Foreign Affairs Council and the 17-18 October European Council.

Along with Civil Society Europe and the European Civic Forum, and an informal coalition of Civil Society Organisations, Amnesty International presents the Mapping paper and the Pathways paper for a Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Civil Society Organisations in Europe. 

Amnesty International joins Greenpeace and over 100 non-governmental organizations calling on the European Union to prohibit companies in the EU from exporting products banned in Europe to other parts of the world, to stop further harms to people and the environment.  

Ahead of tomorrow’s EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Amnesty International wrote to High Representative / Vice President Josep Borrell Fontelles and EU Foreign Ministers, calling on them to ensure that the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 19 July 2024 is translated into effective policies to bring Israel’s violations of international law to an end.

Ahead of the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on 29 August 2024, Amnesty International wrote to High Representative / Vice President Josep Borrell Fontelles and EU Foreign Ministers, calling on them to ensure that the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 19 July 2024 is translated into effective policies to bring Israel’s violations of international law to an end.

Responding to the passing of anti-LGBTI legal amendments to the education law that ban providing education and information about “non-traditional sexual orientation” or “gender identity different from the biological sex” in schools, Nayden Rashkov, Amnesty International Bulgaria’s Director, said: