View also the following documents:

Link to the report – ” The Backlash – human rights at risk throughout the world” (AI Index ACT 30/027/2001).

As EU leaders prepare to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Brussels tomorrow, Amnesty International warns the EU against trading human rights in their efforts to shore up the global anti-terrorist coalition. Amnesty International calls on EU leaders to make a public commitment about their continuing concerns over Russian human rights abuses in Chechnya.

At this crucial time, with global tensions running high, Amnesty International in Brussels today launched an appeal to EU leaders to show greater moral and political leadership to safeguard the international protection of refugees. The appeal coincides with this week’s Justice and Home Affairs Council (27-28 th September) which is due to discuss key issues regarding the EU’s asylum procedures.

As EU Justice and Homes Affairs Ministers gather in Brussels today for their extraordinary council meeting, following the attacks in the US last week, Amnesty International has expressed its support for the EU’s determination to combat impunity. However, the human rights organization has called for explicit assurances that any measure to tighten security will not undermine civil liberties and the right of refugees to protection.

As Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi arrives in Brussels today for talks on a proposed Cooperation Agreement with the European Union, Amnesty International has called on the EU to ensure that the human rights clause in such an agreement is given real substance, given the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.

Amnesty International calls on the European Union to uphold its own human rights principles by raising China’s deteriorating human rights record at the highest level during the EU-China summit in Brussels on Wednesday 5 September.

Click on link to view AI Document EUR 01/003/2001

Amnesty International, in a comprehensive analysis of the European Union’s human rights policies, calls on the Belgian EU Presidency to make human rights an explicit priority saying the gap between policy and practice is still too wide.

Amnesty International says EU leaders must tell the US President he is on a collision course with Europe and much of the rest of the world, on key human rights issues such as the death penalty and the establishment of the International Criminal Court.