Responding to the decision of several European governments to suspend asylum applications of Syrians following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, Eve Geddie said:
Together with 16 other international human rights organizations, Amnesty International calls on EU leaders attending COP29, the 29th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Baku, to raise directly with the Azerbaijani authorities the cases of those imprisoned on politically motivated grounds and aim to secure their release. In this joint statement, our organizations call on the EU to use the rare international spotlight of COP29 to speak publicly and achieve concrete improvements for civil society, independent media, and human rights defenders in the country.
On 11 October, Amnesty International shared a letter with EU leadership, heads of EU governments and EU foreign affairs ministers, as they prepared to discuss the situation in the Middle East at the 14 October Foreign Affairs Council and the 17-18 October European Council.
We, the undersigned organisations, welcome the draft resolution entitled “Protecting the human rights and improving the lives of sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation” (Doc. 16044), adopted by the Equality and Non Discrimination Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 12 September 2024. On 3 October, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will discuss and vote on the report and resolution. We encourage the members of PACE to vote in favour of this resolution, with no amendments to the text.
Reacting to a parliamentary vote rejecting amendments to Bulgarian law which would have criminalized the provision of gender-affirming healthcare for minors, Nayden Rashkov, Amnesty International Bulgaria’s Director, said:
Amnesty International joins Greenpeace and over 100 non-governmental organizations calling on the European Union to prohibit companies in the EU from exporting products banned in Europe to other parts of the world, to stop further harms to people and the environment.
Ahead of tomorrow’s EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Amnesty International wrote to High Representative / Vice President Josep Borrell Fontelles and EU Foreign Ministers, calling on them to ensure that the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 19 July 2024 is translated into effective policies to bring Israel’s violations of international law to an end.
Ahead of the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on 29 August 2024, Amnesty International wrote to High Representative / Vice President Josep Borrell Fontelles and EU Foreign Ministers, calling on them to ensure that the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 19 July 2024 is translated into effective policies to bring Israel’s violations of international law to an end.
In an open letter, Amnesty International urges High Representative Josep Borrell and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs to take robust and unified action for human rights in Venezuela, ahead of this week’s Informal Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers on 29 August. Following the presidential election of 28 July 2024 and the announcement of the contested and unpublished results, the Venezuelan state authorities have increased their policy of repression at a widespread scale, including mass politically motivated arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and reports of torture. The present increase in the scale and gravity of international crimes and human rights violations being committed against Venezuelans demands immediate action by the European Union (EU) and its member states.
Responding to the passing of anti-LGBTI legal amendments to the education law that ban providing education and information about “non-traditional sexual orientation” or “gender identity different from the biological sex” in schools, Nayden Rashkov, Amnesty International Bulgaria’s Director, said:
Ahead of the planned opening of two detention centres in Albania in August, intended to detain people rescued or intercepted at sea by Italian ships, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office Eve Geddie said:
Greece must urgently repeal the legal rules that are causing people seeking asylum in the EU-funded “Closed Controlled Access Centre” on the island of Samos to be systematically and unlawfully deprived of their liberty, said Amnesty International in a report issued today. The organization also called on the EU to hold Greece accountable for human rights violations in the centre and ensure that model is not a blueprint for the recently adopted Migration and Asylum Pact.