Ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council on 24 February 2025, Amnesty International wrote to High Representative Kaja Kallas and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs, urging them to act on the escalating human rights crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In a joint letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Amnesty International joined 162 civil society organizations and trade unions in calling on the EU to ban trade and business with Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to comply with its legal obligations as laid out by the International Court of Justice.
Dear High Representative Borrell,
On 11 October, Amnesty International shared a letter with EU leadership, heads of EU governments and EU foreign affairs ministers, as they prepared to discuss the situation in the Middle East at the 14 October Foreign Affairs Council and the 17-18 October European Council.
Ahead of tomorrow’s EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Amnesty International wrote to High Representative / Vice President Josep Borrell Fontelles and EU Foreign Ministers, calling on them to ensure that the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 19 July 2024 is translated into effective policies to bring Israel’s violations of international law to an end.
Ahead of the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on 29 August 2024, Amnesty International wrote to High Representative / Vice President Josep Borrell Fontelles and EU Foreign Ministers, calling on them to ensure that the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 19 July 2024 is translated into effective policies to bring Israel’s violations of international law to an end.
We, the undersigned Egyptian, regional and international human rights organisations, urge the European Commission and member states to uphold international and EU law to ensure that macro-financial assistance to Egypt granted under EU regulations secures concrete, measurable, structural and timebound human rights progress and reforms in the country.
One year on from the start of the conflict in Sudan on 15 April 2023, and as the Foreign Affairs Council meets on Sudan on 22 April 2024, Amnesty International and 10 other NGOs call on the European Union (EU) and its member states to take urgent, strategic and concrete steps to respond to the massive cost on civilians of the dramatic human rights and humanitarian crisis in the country and prevent further violations.
One year on from the start of the conflict in Sudan on 15 April 2023, and ahead of the 22 April Foreign Affairs Council, Amnesty International wrote to High Representative Borrell and to EU Foreign Ministers to urge them to ensure the European Union (EU) and its member states step up action on continuing human rights violations, including war crimes, in the conflict in Sudan.
Reacting to the European Council’s decision to call for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, Amnesty International’s Head of the European Institutions Office, Eve Geddie said:
Ahead of the European Union’s (EU) leaders meeting with the Egyptian president in Cairo (17 March 2024), Amnesty International called for all leaders to ensure that respect for human rights is at the centre of all ties between the EU and Egypt.
The European Commission is currently deliberating whether it will release its planned funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), without which UNRWA could run out of funding leading to closing its operation. In a letter addressed to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard urges the European Commission to ensure these funds are allocated to UNRWA without delay, to avoid exacerbating the suffering of over two million Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, who are currently facing a serious risk of genocide.