(Brussels, 15 February 2006) Impunity and attacks on freedom of expression are threatening the upcoming Congressional and Presidential elections in Colombia, says Amnesty International, in the run-up to a visit by the Andean Delegation of the European Parliament.
Events of recent weeks have highlighted the difficult question of what should be the legitimate scope of freedom of expression in culturally diverse societies.
24/11/2004 – On the eve of the EU-Russia Summit in The Hague, Amnesty International is presenting the EU with detailed testimonies showing that victims of human rights violations in Chechnya who complain to European institutions have been killed or “disappeared”. (RTF document).
Amnesty International has cautioned the EU to consider what message it will be sending to human rights activists in China, who are still being imprisoned 15 years after Tiananmen Square, if it lifts the EU arms embargo against China.
14/01/2004 – Amnesty International report: “Back in the Spotlight: Allegations of police ill-treatment and excessive use of force in Germany” (AI index EUR 23/001/2004 dated 14 January 2004)
Amnesty International report: “People’s Republic of China: serious human rights violations and the crackdown on dissent continue” (AI index AFR 17/047/2002).
As the European Commission and the President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika prepare to initial an EU-Algeria Association Agreement in Brussels tomorrow (Wednesday 19 December), Amnesty International says the fact this event is going ahead shows the EU’s human rights clause is now clearly not worth the paper it is written on.
Amnesty International is issuing an urgent appeal to European Union leaders to exert their influence through the Cotonou Agreement, following the arrest yesterday of the head of Amnesty International in Gambia, Mr Lamine Sillah, and 13 others including a leading member of Gambia’s opposition Dr Moudou Manneh.