The European Union (EU) and its member states are falling short on their commitment to support and protect human rights defenders (HRDs) who are facing mounting deadly threats and attacks, a new Amnesty International report out today shows.  

Around the world, people are speaking up and working to defend human rights, frequently at risk to their safety, freedom or life. They are harassed and intimidated, unjustly prosecuted and imprisoned. Some are tortured, killed or forcibly disappeared.

The severe crackdown on civil society in Saudi Arabia, especially since 2011 and more acutely since May 2018, has not been matched by a clear or resolute EU strategy to ensure the support and protection of HRDs. The policies of the EU and its member states have instead been characterized by restraint and a lack of creativity to overcome the obstacles associated with supporting HRDs in an already severely restricted environment. While some positive practices have been adopted in the past four years, these have often failed to improve the situation of individual HRDs due to a lack of ownership and follow up on the part of the EU and its member states.

The Chinese authorities must end a wave of persecution targeting those seeking to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, Amnesty International said ahead of the 30th anniversary of the bloodshed. 

European Union leaders should press their Chinese counterparts on the deteriorating human rights situation in the country during the EU-China Summit in Brussels on April 9, 2019, five human rights groups said today. They should amplify concerns raised during the EU-China human rights dialogue on April 1-2 and call on Chinese authorities to close “political education” camps in Xinjiang and free imprisoned dissidents.

• Solidarity vigil TONIGHT Wednesday 20 Feb 18.00 Schuman Roundabout• Short speech from Maside Ocak Kışlakçı, longstanding member of ‘Saturday Mothers’

QUOTE

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

We spoke to families of killed and forcibly disappeared human rights defenders all over the world, and kept hearing the same thing: these people knew their lives were at risk,

There is a real danger that concerns over Egypt’s human rights record could be swept under the carpet as the EU prioritizes security, migration and trade at the expense of human rights.

There is a climate of impunity in CAR, where members of armed groups and militias alleged to have committed appalling human rights abuses and crimes under international law, move freely throughout the country and continue to fuel violence

Egyptians mourn over a body wrapped in shrouds at a mosque in Cairo on August 15, 2013, following a crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the previous day. ©MAHMOUD KHALED/AFP/Getty Images