Reacting to the decision of a court in Lesvos, Greece, to adjourn the case of 24 humanitarian workers, including search and rescue volunteers Sarah Mardini and Seán Binder, who risk 25 years in prison for helping and defending the rights of refugees, Giorgos Kosmopoulos, Senior Campaigner on Migration for Amnesty International said:
The trial of two search and rescue volunteers, who risk 25 years in prison for helping refugees, will finally begin on 18 November in Lesvos, Greece.
Today the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Hungary’s “Stop Soros” legislation, criminalizing a range of legitimate migration-related activities making them punishable by up to one year in prison, violates EU law. In response to the ruling, Director of Amnesty International Hungary, David Vig said:
Responding to news that the Austrian-based Kelkos Energy has withdrawn its baseless defamation lawsuits against Shpresa Loshaj and Adriatik Gacaferi, environmental activists in Kosovo who publicly raised concerns about the environmental impact of hydropower projects, Jelena Sesar, Western Balkans researcher at Amnesty International said:
Anniversary Marks Ongoing Assault on Women’s Rights, Rule of Law
The Pegasus Project revealed how spyware sold by the cybersurveillance company NSO Group to state clients has been used to target activists, journalists, lawyers, and politicians. In this briefing document, Amnesty International outlines key measures urgently needed to ensure greater regulation over the cybersurveillance industry, accountability for human rights violations and more independent oversight over this opaque industry. Given the wide-ranging impact of these revelations, we would urge the EU and its member states to draw on both their internal and foreign policy instruments to address these abuses, and ensure robust and meaningful regulation over the cybersurveillance industry.
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Six international human rights groups – Amnesty International, the Burundi Human Rights Initiative, DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project), Human Rights Watch, Protection International Africa and TRIAL International – condemned the decision of the Court of Appeal of Ngozi on 29 September to uphold the conviction and five-year prison sentence of Burundian lawyer Tony Germain Nkina following an unfair trial.
Libyan security forces and militias in Tripoli have used unlawful lethal force and other violence in an unprecedented roundup of over 5,000 men, women and children from Sub-Saharan Africa and are holding them in horrid conditions where torture and sexual abuse are rampant, said Amnesty International.
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has today ruled that Polish law takes primacy over EU law, and breaches of EU law in Poland can no longer be referred to the EU Court of Justice, by Polish courts. Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office said:
Responding to a new investigation by Lighthouse Reports which documents how authorities in several European Union (EU) countries have violently rounded up migrants and asylum-seekers and summarily returned them to countries outside EU borders, Jelena Sesar, Balkans Researcher at Amnesty International said:
Ahead of the high-level Resettlement Forum which you have convened on 7 October, Amnesty International would like to share our assessment of the decisive actions that the EU and participating states need to take to enable the safe passage and evacuation of Afghans at risk from Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries. Whilst calling on you to do your utmost to secure pledges from participating states for much needed resettlement of refugees who come from Afghanistan and beyond, we urge you to ensure this event is a ground breaker for coordinated and sustained evacuations of Afghan nationals at heightened risk of retaliation by the Taliban.