Amnesty International and 216 civil society organisations, social movements and Indigenous Peoples Organizations co-signed a letter calling for the swift recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment through an additional Protocol to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The prosecution of human rights defender Osman Kavala and four co-defendants in connection with mass protests a decade ago has been unfair and essentially a political show trial from the beginning, a group of nine non-governmental organisations including Amnesty International, said today ahead of an urgent debate at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, calling for Kavala’s release.

Responding to the awarding of the 2023 Václav Havel Prize to Turkish prisoner of conscience, Osman Kavala, by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake, said: 

Six young people from Portugal will present a landmark case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) tomorrow, 27 September, arguing that countries are breaching their human rights by failing to do enough to protect them from climate change.

The implementation of the Reykjavík Declaration adopted at the fourth summit of the Council of Europe is a momentous opportunity for the Council of Europe (CoE) to counter the backsliding of human rights in Europe, to ensure accountability for Russia’s war of aggression and to respond to the climate emergency by protecting the right to a healthy and clean environment. To address the challenges noted in the Declaration, clear measures are required to tackle shrinking civic space, counter the gender backlash, protect and strengthen independent and impartial judiciaries, and ensure the authority of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Importantly, member states need to strengthen the existing toolkit available under the CoE Statute and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) with strong resolve to implement infringement proceedings, ensure the respect of article 52 ECHR inquiries, and guarantee the monitoring of human rights violations by CoE bodies.

Today, for only the fourth time since its foundation in 1949, the heads of state of the Council of Europe (CoE) will come together in Reykjavik, Iceland. And with Europe in the middle of a human rights crisis, and large-scale war raging on the Continent, this meeting of Europe’s top human rights organization is vital.

This blog is authored by Sébastien Duyck, Senior Attorney; Campaign Manager Human Rights & Climate, Center for International Environmental Law, Amy Jacobsen, Legal Counsel Communications, Greenpeace International, Katharina Rall, Senior Researcher in the Environment and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, and Chiara Liguori,  Climate Justice Policy Adviser and Researcher, Amnesty International.

Ahead of a visit of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) to Serbia from 3 to 7 April 2023, Amnesty International made a submission to the Council of Europe’s monitoring body.

Attempting to legalize pushbacks of asylum seekers at Lithuania’s borders would green-light torture, Amnesty International said today ahead of this week’s expected vote in the Lithuanian Parliament on a bill that aims to legalize summary returns under domestic legislation.

The findings by Europe’s top anti-torture body that authorities across Europe have used practices which amount to torture to target refugees and migrants who tried to cross Europe’s borders, strengthen calls for urgent change, said Amnesty International.

Ahead of the 4th Council of Europe Summit to be held in Reykjavik on 16-17 May 2023, Amnesty International provided recommendations for the future of the Council of Europe, in response to a call for consultations launched by the Icelandic Presidency of the Committee of Ministers.

Solitary confinement is being used in ways that violate the rights of those awaiting trial, including being applied to people with intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses