Ahead of the informal meeting of the European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers in Slovenia in September, Amnesty International, Civicus, International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), wrote an open letter to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission Josep Borrell to express their grave concerns about the continued reticence from the EU and its member states in effectively engaging India on human rights. In light of the deteriorating human rights situation in the country, the organizations urge the EU and its member states to fundamentally revise their strategy toward relations with India and engage with India on human rights.

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.

In recent years, human rights defenders in China have faced increasing intimidation, harassment, arbitrary detention and attacks.

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.

The EU’s human rights policy in Russia has long had to contend with divergent EU member state positions and political considerations related to Russia’s perceived strategic and economic importance to Europe. The suspension of the political framework for EU-Russia dialogue following the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the increasingly tense EU-Russia relations characterized by occasional diplomatic and security flare ups, have presented a further obstacle to the EU’s HRD policy.

The extraction, transport, and trade of minerals have been linked to conflict, corruption, and human rights abuses for decades. The minerals trade has financed armed groups, bankrolled oppressive security forces, facilitated money laundering and corruption, and allowed companies to benefit from serious human rights abuses, like child labour, land-grabbing, and forced evictions. As the world faces climate change, increasing populations and diminishing resources, global supply chains are under increased scrutiny. Whether examining their carbon footprint or links to corruption or other issues, it is clear that many of our supply chains are broken and systemic changes are needed to reform them. This is a global problem that affects us all, and more so communities in producing and trading nations like Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Ghana, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.