Dear Taoiseach,

Reacting to the vote in the European Parliament on a report calling once again for an EU-wide consent-based definition of rape, Dinushika Dissanayake Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe said:

We 127 civil society organisations, trade unions and defenders of the public interest write to emphasise our serious alarm at the forthcoming EU Digital Omnibus proposals, part of a wide deregulation agenda.

Regarding the recently adopted Constitutional amendments in Slovakia, we the undersigned 56 civil society organizations, express our profound concern, and urge the EU to take urgent action.

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. 

With this submission, Amnesty International is sharing key principles and issues we believe should be addressed in the upcoming EU Gender Equality Strategy. We appreciate the opportunity to provide input through the meetings that have been organized and the online consultation process. This input builds on our 2024 joint statement with partners which sets out a clear, collective vision for gender equality in the EU, though by no means reflects all the work Amnesty International has done on these issues, nor does it include all forms and manifestations of gender-based discrimination that the strategy should address.

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.

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”.

The following letter was sent to President Ursula von der Leyen, Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, Commissioner Michael McGrath, and Commissioner Hadja Lahbib of the European Commission by 23 LGBTI and human rights organisations.

Amnesty International urges EU institutions to ensure that the proposed reforms to the Facilitators Package, presented by the European Commission in November 2023 and now under negotiation, align with international human rights and refugee law. The current EU anti-smuggling framework has enabled the criminalization and prosecution of human rights defenders for acts of solidarity that uphold the rights of refugees and migrants – often lifesaving acts such as providing food, shelter or medical care. Aligning the Facilitators Package with the UN Smuggling Protocol and narrowing the offence of ‘facilitation’ of unauthorized entry, transit or residence, is therefore essential to protect migrants and refugees, their family members, as well as human rights defenders and organizations that assist them, from criminalization. This Position Paper details Amnesty International’s recommendations to ensure that the proposed directive improves the protection of human rights of refugees and migrants, and those acting in solidarity with them. 

In July 2024, Amnesty International published research which highlighted the use of systematic unlawful and arbitrary detention in the Samos Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC), as well as human rights concerns emerging from the inadequate living conditions. Today, the situation in the Samos CCAC remains alarming. Amnesty International and organisations active in the field of refugee and migrant rights in Greece urge Magnus Brunner, the Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner, to leverage the European Commission’s oversight of the situation in the Samos CCAC to address these grave shortfalls and violations.