Responding to news that the Austrian-based Kelkos Energy has withdrawn its baseless defamation lawsuits against Shpresa Loshaj and Adriatik Gacaferi, environmental activists in Kosovo who publicly raised concerns about the environmental impact of hydropower projects, Jelena Sesar, Western Balkans researcher at Amnesty International said:
Six international human rights groups – Amnesty International, the Burundi Human Rights Initiative, DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project), Human Rights Watch, Protection International Africa and TRIAL International – condemned the decision of the Court of Appeal of Ngozi on 29 September to uphold the conviction and five-year prison sentence of Burundian lawyer Tony Germain Nkina following an unfair trial.
Ahead of the first EU-Saudi Arabia meeting on human rights on 27 September, Amnesty International is calling on EU leaders to hold Saudi Arabia’s government to account for its campaign to silence dissent, which has accelerated in recent months.
Dear High Representative Borrell,
Ahead of the informal meeting of the European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers in Slovenia in September, Amnesty International, Civicus, International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), wrote an open letter to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission Josep Borrell to express their grave concerns about the continued reticence from the EU and its member states in effectively engaging India on human rights. In light of the deteriorating human rights situation in the country, the organizations urge the EU and its member states to fundamentally revise their strategy toward relations with India and engage with India on human rights.
Your Excellencies,
Ahead of the EU- India Leaders’ meeting on 8 May, Amnesty International is calling on EU leaders to urge India to protect the rights to life and health and to raise the alarm about the crackdown on dissent being carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
EU leaders meeting in Portugal next weekend will have online talks with Indian Prime Minister Modi. India currently faces a wave of COVID-19 infections and shortages of vaccines and treatments such as oxygen. At the same time, critics of India’s pandemic response are being silenced – including on Twitter and Facebook. This is why human rights must be at the centre of their discussions.
European leaders at the May 8, 2021 summit with their Indian counterparts should prioritize the deteriorating human rights situation in India, including the right to health, eight organizations said today.
Dear High Representative Borrell,
The arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Russian prominent anti-corruption campaigner and opposition figure Aleksei Navalny, and the concurrent arrests and detention on spurious charges of his colleagues from the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), civil society activists and peaceful protesters during mass public protests held at the beginning of the year and in smaller protests that followed, are the latest in a series of severe, brazen reprisals against all forms of dissent in Russia. The prosecution of Aleksei Navalny and of his colleagues and supporters is politically motivated and their deprivation of liberty is unlawful. They are being held in detention solely for their peaceful political activism and their exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. They must be immediately released.
This paper outlines Amnesty International’s key recommendations to the EU and EU member states participating in the Brussels V Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region.