We welcome the EU institutions and Member States’ commitment to receiving and protecting refugees fleeingthe crisis in Ukraine. The speed and unanimity with which the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) wasadopted shows that when there is political will, the European Union can come together to uphold its values ofrespect for human rights and protecting those fleeing persecution, war and violence. Now it is time for the EUinstitutions and Member States to coordinate and facilitate putting these commitments into practice.

We are deeply concerned that the European Commission and the Council consider unblocking the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility funds to the governments of Poland and Hungary, and that the Commission talks about further delaying the activation of the rule of law conditionality regulation in their regard, due to the current political and humanitarian crisis following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

Amnesty International is writing to share our concerns and recommendations ahead of the forthcoming European Union (EU) – China summit. While we understand that the main topic of discussions will be the Ukraine crisis and the Chinese government’s position on it, we urge you to dedicate adequate time to also discuss those authorities’ assaults on human rights both within and increasingly outside China’s borders. In that regard, we would also like to caution you against spending time persuading your Chinese counterparts to holding yet another round of the bilateral human rights dialogue.

We call on the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), the European Commission, and all national data protection authorities (DPAs) to urgently address the structural and procedural enforcement issues that prevent the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from fully reaching its potential.

Reacting to the Russian government’s decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe, and its declared intention to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:“Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe comes on the heels of its act of aggression against Ukraine, where its troops have committed possible war crimes and serious human rights violations. Though it came ahead of a vote by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe leading to its departure, Russia’s preemptive decision to leave Europe’s principal guardian of human rights and the rule of law and denounce the European Convention on Human Rights is a tragedy for the victims of the Kremlin’s human rights abuses.

Together we call on the European Union to adopt a forward-thinking and truly inclusive approach to gender-based violence – that leaves no one behind and strives to achieve real change in the lives of all people, without discrimination. To meaningfully address gender-based violence in the European Union, we must promote inclusion, safety, protection, well-being and effective remedies for those most at risk.

Reacting to the Council of the European Union’s activation of the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD), which will grant immediate protection in EU countries to people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU office said:

Amnesty International and partners are calling on European Union member states to ensure the upcoming Digital Services Act (DSA) contains robust human rights protections, in an open letter published today.

An investigation by the EU’s independent oversight body has found that the European Commission (EC) failed to ensure that fundamental human rights were respected in EU-funded border operations by Croatian authorities since 2018. During that time, widespread abuses against migrants and asylum seekers by Croatian border guards have been documented, including people being bound, brutally beaten and tortured.

Responding to the publication of the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence, Patrick Wilcken, Head of Business and Human Rights at Amnesty International said: 

As the EU General Affairs Council prepares to hold a hearing on 22 February on the rule of law in Poland under the Article 7.1 TEU procedure, the undersigned civil society organisations would like to draw the attention of EU Ministers to some alarming developments. Since the Council last discussed the situation in June 2021, a severe and steady decline in the respect for EU values in Poland has continued unabated. Despite the numerous actions undertaken by EU institutions since the procedure was launched in 2017, the Polish government has continued to systematically infringe upon those standards and ignore EU recommendations and the EU Court’s rulings.

Responding to the EU’s Court of Justice’s rejection of cases Hungary and Poland against rules which would make the granting of funds from the EU budget conditional on the respect of the rule of law, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU Office said: