Law enforcement officials sent to police the region devastated by Türkiye’s 6 February earthquakes have beaten, tortured, and otherwise ill-treated people they suspect of theft and looting, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. One person died in custody after being tortured. In some instances, law enforcement officials have also failed to intervene to prevent individuals from violently assaulting other people they allegedly suspected of crimes.  

Reacting to reports that proposed EU business legislation will exempt companies from addressing the human rights risks linked to how their products are used, including arms, tools of torture or surveillance equipment, Amnesty International’s Policy Advisor on Business and Human Rights Hannah Storey said:

The findings by Europe’s top anti-torture body that authorities across Europe have used practices which amount to torture to target refugees and migrants who tried to cross Europe’s borders, strengthen calls for urgent change, said Amnesty International.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 unleashed numerous war crimes, generated a global energy and food crisis and further disrupted a weak multilateral system. It also laid bare the hypocrisy of European countries, which reacted forcefully to the Kremlin’s aggression but condoned or were complicit in grave violations committed elsewhere. Commendably, they immediately put in place legal protections for Ukrainian refugees fleeing war, whilst simultaneously blocking others fleeing conflict and repression in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, Amnesty International said as it launched Amnesty International Report 2022/23: The State of the World’s Human Rights.

Responding to the French National Assembly’s decision to permit the use of mass video surveillance technology powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) during the 2024 Olympics, Mher Hakobyan, Amnesty International’s Advocacy Advisor on AI Regulation, said:  

French lawmakers must reject any plans to use video surveillance powered by artificial intelligence (AI) at the 2024 Paris Olympics.  Such draconian technologies of mass surveillance violate the rights to privacy and can lead to violations of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. This could result into dystopian levels of surveillance in the future, Amnesty International said today, as the proposed bill on the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games is headed for a plenary vote at France’s National Assembly.   

This briefing outlines Amnesty International’s main concerns and recommendations to EU leaders, ahead of the20 March Foreign Affairs Council and 23-24 March European Council discussion on Russia’s aggression inUkraine.

On 20 March, the European Commission and the Swedish EU presidency will host a high-level conference in Brussels aimed at coordinating the response of international donors and raising funds for early recovery and relief efforts in both Türkiye and Syria. The conference will be attended by EU member states, candidate countries and potential candidates, neighbouring and partner countries, G20 members, Member States of the Gulf Cooperation, as well as the UN, international organisations, humanitarian actors, and international and European financial institutions. This paper outlines Amnesty International’s key recommendations to the EU, EU member states and other countries participating in the “Donors’ Conference for the people of Türkiye and Syria affected by the earthquake”.

At their forthcoming meeting on 20 March, EU foreign affairs ministers should publicly press the Tunisian authorities to reverse their crackdown against perceived critics, four human rights groups said today.  

The 20th of March 2023 Foreign Affairs Council’s exchange of views on the situation in Tunisia will take place amid an unprecedented campaign to crush dissent and roll back human rights and freedoms Tunisians have worked hard to secure since the country’s 2011 revolution. We are deeply concerned, in particular, about the undermining of judicial independence, the arrests of critics and political opponents, the military trials of civilians, and the ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression and threats to civil society.

CASE members have written to the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council about the draft compromise proposal for the European anti-SLAPP Directive. The Swedish Presidency’s compromise proposal is self-defeating, runs contrary to the purpose of the anti-SLAPP Directive and undermines its spirit, and fails to meet the expectations of the European Parliament, the European Union’s most important democratic body.

Earlier this month, a delegation of European diplomats visited Huwara and Za’tara, two Palestinian towns in the Nablus Governorate, where Israeli settlers launched brutal attacks.