Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union,

Dear High Representative/Vice-President Kallas,

Amnesty International is presenting this submission to the European Commission ahead of the preparation of its 2026 Enlargement Package. It details Amnesty International’s human rights concerns and outlines key recommendations that the EU should prioritize in the framework of Serbia’s EU accession process as well as any other ongoing engagement with the authorities. 

On 9 November 2025, the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC) will meet for their biennial EU-CELAC summit in Santa Marta, Colombia. Amnesty International urges the EU and CELAC leaders to seize the opportunity to move beyond rhetoric on long-standing partnership and shared values and interests to take concrete actions on human rights in both regions and worldwide, at a crucial time when human rights are under attack globally.

Pécs Pride organizer faces threat of imprisonment – The annual LGBTQI Pride March in Pécs (Hungary) is scheduled to be held on 4 October 2025. Unlike the Budapest Pride, which was held in June as a municipality event, the Pécs Pride is organized by a private individual as an assembly. It had been banned by the police on 5 September and the Kúria (the Supreme Court of Hungary) upheld the ban. The ban on Pécs Pride is exposing the organizer to the threat of imprisonment, as holding a banned assembly constitutes a criminal offence under the Hungarian Criminal Code. 

As Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza escalates, enabled by US military and political support, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on prominent Palestinian human rights organizations, Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. This represents a grave assault on human rights standards, the global pursuit of justice and respect for international law. 

With this submission, Amnesty International is sharing key principles and issues we believe should be addressed in the EU Civil Society Strategy 2026-2030. We appreciate the opportunity to provide input through the meetings that have been organised and the online consultation process.

Amnesty International and 8 international human rights organisations express profound concerns regarding the Georgian government’s all-out assault on human rights and civil society organisations in the country and call on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally end all persecution of civil society and media groups for their peaceful and legitimate work. The European Union, its member states and the broader international community should take urgent and coordinated measures to respond to and end this crackdown.

On 27 May, EU Ministers will meet at the General Affairs Council (GAC) to hold yet another hearing on the situation in Hungary under Article 7.1 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). In a joint open letter to EU ministers, Amnesty International and 5 other human rights organisations call for concrete EU action to address Hungary’s erosion of human rights and the rule of law.

In a joint open letter to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law, and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath, Amnesty International and 325 other civil society organisations raise the alarm on the new Hungarian bill entitled “Transparency of Public Life”, which would enable the government to target, defund and dissolve any organisation it designates as “a threat to Hungarian sovereignty”.

Amnesty International is presenting this submission to the European Commission ahead of the preparation of its 2025 Enlargement Package. It details Amnesty International’s human rights concerns and outlines key recommendations that the EU should prioritize in the framework of Serbia’s EU accession process as well as any other ongoing engagement with the authorities. 

In an open letter to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council António Costa, Amnesty International and 57 other human rights organizations, media freedom groups, journalists’ organisations and representatives of the international legal community raise our profound concern over the extraordinary assault by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the right to political participation, the rule of law and human rights in Türkiye and call for an effective and robust response by the EU, its member states and its institutions.