EU foreign ministers must use their meeting on 23 February with Nikolai Mladenov, Director-General of the Board of Peace and High Representative for Gaza, to demand that the board focuses on Palestinians’ rights, Amnesty International said.
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.
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.
Dear African and European leaders,
Ahead of the “first ever” EU-Egypt summit between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and Egypt’s President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi on 22 October, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office said:
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.
Ahead of the meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels on 15 July that will decide whether to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, Eve Geddie, the Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, said:
Ahead of a visit by EU Migration Commissioner Brunner and EU ministers to Libya to discuss migration cooperation on 8 July, Eve Geddie, the Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, said:
We, the undersigned Egyptian, regional and international human rights organisations, are writing to provide input ahead of the negotiations on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the EU’s €4 billion Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) package to Egypt. Article 3 of the decision by the European Parliament and Council on granting MFA to Egypt states that: “The Commission… shall agree with the Egyptian authorities on clearly defined economic policy and financial conditions… to which the Union’s macro-financial assistance is to be subject, to be laid down in a Memorandum of Understanding…”. We recognize the EU’s objective of supporting Egypt’s economic stabilization, as reflected in the decision to provide this substantial assistance—the second-largest MFA operation after that granted to Ukraine. However, this decision marks a departure from the EU’s usual standards for recipient countries, which according to EU guidelines on MFA, include prior “respect for human rights and effective democratic mechanisms.” Notably, Article 2(1) of the aforementioned decision deviates from past practice and established guidelines by stating: “A pre-condition for granting the Union’s macro-financial assistance shall be that Egypt continues to make concrete and credible steps towards respecting effective democratic mechanisms – including a multi-party parliamentary system – and the rule of law and guarantees respect for human rights.” In addition, Article 4 (3.A) states: “The Commission shall decide on the release of the instalments subject to the fulfilment of the following conditions: (a) the pre-condition set out in Article 2(1).” Article 2(2) adds: “The Commission services and the European External Action Service shall monitor the fulfilment of this pre-condition throughout the life cycle of the Union’s macro-financial assistance.” We therefore urge the European Commission to ensure that this assistance strictly adheres to these conditions and advances socioeconomic rights by: