Dear High Representative, Dear Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 

Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union,

Ahead of the 4 September meeting between Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands to discuss progress on plans to deport people to so-called “return hubs” in countries outside Europe where they may never have set foot, likely be to centres or facilities funded by EU member states, Eve Geddie, Director of the European Institutions Office of Amnesty International, said:

Dear President von der Leyen,

The offshore detention of migrants and asylum seekers under the Italy-Albania Agreement is jeopardizing people’s safety, liberty and human rights, Amnesty International said in a briefing published as events in Ceuta continue to expose the dangers of long-standing European Union (EU) migration policies that centre on exclusion and containment.

Dear High Representative/Vice-President Kallas,

31 civil society organisations call on EU institutions and member states to urgently end their shameful cooperation with Libyan authorities on migration control. Plans to strengthen cooperation with rival authorities in eastern and western Libya, against the backdrop of long-standing widespread and systematic human rights abuses by both sets of actors against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants with impunity, and in light of repeated attacks by Libyan forces against Search and Rescue (SAR) NGOs in the Mediterranean Sea, are alarming.

Three years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen migration cooperation with Tunisia, the European Union (EU)’s unchecked support for border control in the country continues to fuel serious human rights violations against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, Amnesty International said today.   

Three years since the signature of the European Union (EU)-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the agreement has not only failed to guarantee respect for refugees and migrants’ rights, it has fuelled and normalized serious human rights violations and undermined the EU’s leverage to address the deteriorating human rights environment in the country. We call on the European Commission and EU member states to immediately suspend border and migration control support to Tunisia, notably to Tunisian security forces responsible for serious human rights violations.

In response to the European Union’s (EU) consistent failure to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns said:

While the EU recently elevated its relationship with Viet Nam to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, civic space within Viet Nam continues to shrink. This repression is no longer contained within Viet Nam’s borders. Recent high-level state visits between Thai and Vietnamese authorities have signaled a dangerous tightening of bilateral security cooperation, extending beyond legitimate security objectives and encompassing the illegitimate targeting of individuals for political reasons. By strengthening the means for transnational repression (TNR), Viet Nam is acting in breach of those commitments and of its legal obligations under international human rights law. The EU should insist on compliance with those commitments and heed the calls repeatedly formulated by the European Parliament on TNR.

Dear President von der Leyen,