In response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on ‘EU-India relations – new comprehensive strategic approach’, Amnesty International made the following submission.
Ahead of their forthcoming Joint Communication on a new Strategic EU-India Agenda and a jointly agreed five-year Roadmap with India, Amnesty International urges the EU and its member states to ensure that human rights and rule of law commitments are reinforced and placed squarely at the centre of their relations with India.
With serious, mounting concerns about human rights and the rule of law in India – along with rising authoritarianism, contestation of the international human rights law framework and attacks on the rule of law across the globe – the EU can no longer limit human rights exchanges with India to a human rights dialogue and cooperation at multilateral human rights fora.
Instead, the EU and its member states must fully use the opportunity of the forthcoming Joint Communication to set the ambitious groundwork for a concerted mainstreaming of human rights across EU-India relations, in the Roadmap and all the other key next steps in EU-India relations.
Even at a time of volatility and vast geopolitical changes, the EU cannot afford to tone down its engagement with India on the rule of law and human rights for short-term political expediency. In the Joint Communication, it will be primordial for the EU and its member states to maintain a wider vision over the next five years and beyond, moving past perceived geopolitical constraints to effectively respond to a rapidly worsening human rights situation in India.
As the EU and India deepen their relations, both sides must re-assert how shared values and interests converge around human rights and the rule of law across all areas of relations to achieve a partnership that can truly serve the EU, India and their people.
As key global players, the ability of both sides to engage effectively on human rights and the rule of law should be treated as an important measure of the quality of the EU-India partnership.
The Joint Communication must envisage opening spaces for dialogue on the rule of law and human rights across all areas of relations from security and defence, trade and technology, to work on climate or at multilateral fora.
Both the Joint Communication and the Roadmap must affirm both sides’ commitment to the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of rights and the respect and fulfillment of rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly as enshrined in national and international law. In jointly shaping their partnership, the EU and India must publicly recognize the work of civil society and human rights defenders in their societies and foreground the importance of preserving a safe and enabling environment for their work, in recognition of the contribution they make to the strengthening of societies based on the rule of law.
With its increasing role on the global stage, India must rise to the responsibility of respecting, upholding and championing human rights and the rule of law – and as India’s partner, the EU must robustly hold the Indian authorities to account to deliver on their stated commitments in practice.
Only with the rule of law and human rights at the core of their joint commitments will both sides – and the EU-India partnership itself – be equipped to confront the challenges of the coming years, at home and in the wider world.
Read Amnesty International’s full submission here: https://www.amnesty.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Amnesty-International-Submission-EU-India-strategy-7-May-2025.pdf