Amnesty International is presenting this submission to the European Commission ahead of the preparation of its 2025 Enlargement Package. It details Amnesty International’s human rights concerns and outlines key recommendations that the EU should prioritize in the framework of Serbia’s EU accession process as well as any other ongoing engagement with the authorities. 

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. 

Hungarian journalism non-profit Direkt36 today published a major investigation into the use of NSO Group’s notorious Pegasus spyware in Hungary, revealing that the phones of more than 300 Hungarian nationals were identified as possible targets for infection. Experts from Amnesty International were able to confirm several cases where the spyware was successfully installed.  

Dear High Representative,

European governments are complicit in the systematic,unlawful and frequently violent push backs and collective expulsions of thousands of asylum seekers to squalid and unsafe refugee camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Amnesty International in a report published today.

• Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights to hear case over UK Government bulk surveillance• Groups seek ruling from Grand Chamber that would put an end to bulk surveillance powers

EU member states must back proposed curbs on the export of surveillance equipment to abusive regimes, Access Now, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders said, after leaked documents revealed that several EU countries, particularly Sweden and Finland, are pushing for weakening human rights protections in relation to European export controls of surveillance technology. The leaked documents were published earlier today by digital rights reporters at netzpolitik.org and Reporters Without Borders.

Ahmed’s absurd conviction has nothing to do with justice but instead plays into the hands of the Hungarian authorities’ demonization of refugees, migrants and those seeking to protect them.

These new rules should eventually stop EU produced surveillance equipment from being exported to countries where there is a high risk it would be used to abuse journalists, activists and others who work to defend rights.

Attacks and smear campaigns against human rights activists are happening the world over, and Europe is no exception. The EU and its member countries need to take action to stop this – both at home and abroad