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”.
On 12 July 2022, Amnesty International, along with eight other international human rights NGOs sent a letter to the High Representative of the European Union and the 27 EU Foreign Ministers, calling on the European Union to initiate, table and foster broad support for a resolution to create a mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia at the next session of the UN Human Rights Council.
As the Czech Republic government prepares to assume the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), Amnesty International calls to ensure that human rights are at the forefront of the Czech presidency’s mandate. This presidency comes at a time of increased challenges in Europe, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its implications for the international human rights system, backsliding on the rule of law, the growing anti-gender movement and the discriminatory treatment of asylum seekers.
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.
A court in Moscow has sentenced opposition activist and Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny to two years and eight months in a penal colony, amid a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests which saw at least 5,021 people detained on 31 January alone. The Simonovsky District Court granted a motion put forward by the Federal Penitentiary Service to replace Aleksei Navalny’s suspended sentence with jail time, and he will be held at a penal colony.
Dear High Representative,
To the attention of:
People’s rights are being violated by governments in Europe and Central Asia, who are cracking down on protests and seeking to erode the independence of the judiciary to avoid accountability, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual review of human rights in the region.
The decision to detain Osman Kavala on new charges merely hours after a court ordered his release must be immediately reversed and he must immediately set free, said Amnesty International.
The European Union (EU) and its member states are falling short on their commitment to support and protect human rights defenders (HRDs) who are facing mounting deadly threats and attacks, a new Amnesty International report out today shows.
Around the world, people are speaking up and working to defend human rights, frequently at risk to their safety, freedom or life. They are harassed and intimidated, unjustly prosecuted and imprisoned. Some are tortured, killed or forcibly disappeared.