Responding to reports that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has invited and plans to host Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Hungary on Wednesday, Erika Guevara-Rosas the head of Global Research, Advocacy and Policy of Amnesty International said: “Prime Minister Netanyahu is an alleged war criminal, who is accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, intentionally…
Reacting to the European Council’s conclusions of 20 March 2025 on the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory Eve Geddie, the Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, said: “After 17 months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the fact that the EU refuses to name Israel, condemn air strikes wiping out entire families or condemn…
Today, the European Commission introduced a proposed revision to the 2008 Return Directive, amending the EU legal framework on returns or deportations outside of the EU. Following pressure from certain member states, it also introduces a possible legal basis for ‘return hubs’ in EU law through “agreements or arrangements” with third countries. “The European Commission…
On 11 March, the District Court of The Hague will determine the admissibility of a court case brought by Amnesty International, Boat Refugee Foundation and Defence for Children Netherlands to hold the Dutch government responsible for its role in endorsing and implementing the EU-Türkiye deal. The three organizations hold the Dutch state responsible for the…
As we mark three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and amid the recently accelerated discussions on ending the war, Amnesty International wrote a letter to EU leaders, urging them to take concerted action to influence and shape the terms of any proposed ‘peace negotiations’ and to ensure that they are firmly grounded in…
On 12 February, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights will hear three cases against Latvia, Lithuania and Poland concerning alleged unlawful pushbacks — summary returns of migrants and refugees at the border — from these EU states to Belarus. This is the first time the European Court will rule on human…
In a joint letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Amnesty International joined 162 civil society organizations and trade unions in calling on the EU to ban trade and business with Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to comply with its legal obligations as laid out by the International Court of…
In an open letter to the editor of Euractiv, Amnesty International responded to the ‘The Brief – Never again?‘ published on 27 January 2025. Dear sir, It is with shock but not surprise that we at Amnesty International read Euractiv’s editor in chief, Matthew Karnitschnig’s, The Brief – Never again? published on 27 January. In…
In a letter to Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers for the Environment of Member States of the Council of Europe, Amnesty International calls for a legally binding instrument guaranteeing the human right to a healthy environment. Dear Ministers, I am writing to you on behalf of Amnesty International to encourage you to take action…
Ursula von der Leyen knows that the EU’s reputation as a credible actor for human rights and international law is in tatters over the horrors in Gaza. EU leaders and officials have gone from privately condemning the EU’s double standards behind closed doors to publicly lamenting them. Instead of tackling these double standards however, the European Commission President rebranded them…
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: “The situation in Syria is extremely volatile. Five decades of brutality and repression cannot be undone overnight. But European governments have wasted no time halting…
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…