In October 2023, member states reached an agreement on the contentious Crisis and Force Majeure Regulation, enabling negotiations with the European Parliament to begin on this piece of the migration and asylum reforms package. Despite its name, this proposal will not usher in a better approach to ‘crises’ or increased arrivals at borders. If adopted, it risks normalising the use of emergency measures and lowering asylum standards further.

The LGBTI+ community in Türkiye is increasingly the target of discrimination, intimidation and violence, said the European Commission in its 2023 Enlargement Package published last week. It also points out that the activities of LGBTI+ organisations continue to be unduly restricted, LGBTI+ people and human rights defenders continue to be targeted with legal sanctions for participating in Pride events, and LGBTI+ people continue to face hate speech, stigmatisation, and smear campaigns.

As the EU AI Act negotiations continue, a number of controversial issues remain open. At stake are vital issues including the extent to which general purpose/foundation models are regulated, but also crucially, how far does the AI Act effectively prevent harm from the use of AI for law enforcement, migration, and national security purposes.

In a joint statement, Amnesty International and 81 other civil society organisations express our concerns regarding the potential retention of Article 5 in the proposed EU Screening Regulation (one of key legislative files encompassing the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum) during trilogue negotiations.

In a joint statement, Amnesty International and 17 other European networks and organisations, representing trade unions and NGOs, call on EU lawmakers not to trap migrant workers in exploitation, by ensuring a meaningful right to change employer, and to ensure full equal treatment, particularly in private rented housing.

On 15 November, Deputy Permanent Representatives to COREPER I will discuss the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) to update the Council’s negotiation mandate for the next political trialogue.

Ahead of the General Affairs Council on 15 November, Amnesty International and seven other organisations, called upon the Ministers to adequately probe the Hungarian government’s commitment to respect, protect and promote the principles the EU was founded on.

Ahead of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, which will discuss the current escalation of the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Amnesty International is urging the ministers attending to call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to the conflict. The expanding humanitarian and human rights catastrophe unfolding in Gaza urgently needs to end.

Speaking out against injustice or joining a solidarity march are some of the few tools we – as peoples around the world – have available to try and effect change. Without the right to publicly and peacefully protest – to share messages on social media, write letters and sign petitions – people are silenced. 

Ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council on 13 November, Amnesty International has written to High Representative Josep Borrell and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs, urging them to urgently call for a ceasefire to bring an end to the expanding man-made humanitarian and human rights crisis unfolding in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially in Gaza.

74 civil society organisations have written to the European Commission, the European Parliament’s rapporteur, the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council and the Ministers of Justice of all EU Member States to reiterate their concerns regarding the trilogue process of the anti-SLAPP Directive. Amnesty International urges the European institutions to negotiate the strongest possible Anti-SLAPP Directive that effectively protects public watchdogs. 

Responding to the announcement that the Italian and Albanian Prime Ministers yesterday signed an agreement to construct two centres in Albania in which to detain people rescued at sea by Italian ships, including people seeking safety, Elisa De Pieri, Regional Researcher at Amnesty International said: