Dear President von der Leyen,

Reacting to the EU’s failure to call for a vote to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement or to agree on any other concrete measures today at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns said:

In response to Israeli authorities’ violations of international humanitarian law in Palestine and Lebanon, over 60 human rights and humanitarian organizations and trade unions call on the EU and member states to adopt long-overdue measures, including suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements and suspending all transfers and transit of arms to Israel.

As we mark four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and 12 years since its initial military intervention, Amnesty International issued the following letter to High Representative Kallas and EU Foreign Ministers, outlining our key calls to the European Union and its member states.

Ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council on 23 February 2026, Amnesty International addressed the following letter to High Representative Kaja Kallas and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs, urging them to centre Palestinians’ human rights and international law in the meeting and their engagement with the Board of Peace.

Ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council on 23 February 2026, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) wrote to High Representative Kaja Kallas and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs, urging them to act for civilians caught in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

On 30 January, six Italian coastguard and custom officials will go on trial for failing to launch rescue operations which could have prevented a shipwreck that killed more than 90 people near the town of Cutro in southern Italy in February 2023.

Ahead of India’s 77th Republic Day Parade celebrations on 26 January and the EU-India Summit taking place the following day, Amnesty International urges the European Union and India to work together to counter global attacks on human rights.

The fall of Uvira, the second largest city in South Kivu province, to the Rwandan-backed armed group March 23 Movement (M23) on 10 December must catalyse the European Union (EU) and its member states’ response to the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Our organizations – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) – call on the EU and its member states to redouble action on the conflict in eastern DRC, putting human rights and accountability for violations at the centre of their response.

As Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza escalates, enabled by US military and political support, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on prominent Palestinian human rights organizations, Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. This represents a grave assault on human rights standards, the global pursuit of justice and respect for international law. 

Reacting to the EU’s decision not to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, Agnès Callamard Amnesty International’s Secretary General said:

On 15 July, EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs will meet at the Foreign Affairs Council to decide whether to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, or take any other measures to bring an end to Israel’s violations of international law against Palestinians and ensure that the EU and its member states do not contribute to these grave violations. Ahead of the meeting, Amnesty International sent the following public letter to High Representative Kaja Kallas and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs.