As Poland assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 January 2025, Amnesty International sets out recommendations for its mandate in a letter to Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland. Dear Prime Minister Tusk, Poland assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) at a critical moment, and…
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…
10 steps for the EU to ensure sustainable and rights-based asylum systems In light of recent policies aimed at preventing the arrival in the EU of individuals seeking international protection and safety, over 40 humanitarian and human rights organizations working to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, call on EU member states…
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…
Ahead of today’s European Commissioner hearings, Amnesty International is calling on Commissioner-designates for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, and for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, to urgently reject calls to offshore asylum and returns and firmly uphold a rights-based asylum and migration policy in Europe. “As the EU’s disregard for human rights in its migration…
Dear High Representative Borrell, In light of the European Union’s leadership in ensuring the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Burundi at the current 57th session of the Human Rights Council, Amnesty International is writing to urge you to lead EU and member state efforts to champion civil society…
Reacting to the Polish government’s new migration strategy which cites the threat of Russia and Belarus using migration to ‘destabilize the country’ and proposes temporary suspension of the right to seek asylum, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake said: “Suspending the right to seek asylum is flagrantly unlawful and Prime Minister Tusk…
Ahead of the meeting of Heads of State or Government of EU member states this 17-18 October, Amnesty International urges European leaders to focus their efforts on humane and sustainable policies towards refugees and migrants, and to firmly reject proposals to establish ‘return hubs’ outside the EU. ‘Return hubs’ are incompatible with EU and international…
On 11 October, Amnesty International shared a letter with EU leadership, heads of EU governments and EU foreign affairs ministers, as they prepared to discuss the situation in the Middle East at the 14 October Foreign Affairs Council and the 17-18 October European Council. Dear President Michel, Dear President von der Leyen, Dear HR/VP Borrell,…
Along with Civil Society Europe and the European Civic Forum, and an informal coalition of Civil Society Organisations, Amnesty International presents the Mapping paper and the Pathways paper for a Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Civil Society Organisations in Europe. The papers aim to map the existing protection landscape and, based on the…
Amnesty International joins Greenpeace and over 100 non-governmental organizations calling on the European Union to prohibit companies in the EU from exporting products banned in Europe to other parts of the world, to stop further harms to people and the environment. Amnesty International has been warning that digital surveillance systems produced by companies based in…