Dear Ministers,  As EU Ministers prepare to discuss rule of law issues at their 20 April and 11 May 2021 General Affairs Council meetings, according to the work programme of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council, we the undersigned representatives of Portuguese, Polish, European and...

A new Action Plan on Human Rights, announced by President Erdogan on 2 March after a two-year long preparation, represents another missed opportunity for the Turkish authorities to display a strong commitment to addressing the root causes of the most crucial problems of Turkey’s human rights...

The arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Russian prominent anti-corruption campaigner and opposition figure Aleksei Navalny, and the concurrent arrests and detention on spurious charges of his colleagues from the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), civil society activists and peaceful protesters...

by Claudia Prettner, Legal/Policy Adviser – Technology, Data Protection, Human Rights, Amnesty International This opinion piece was originally published on Social Europe. New EU digital rules need to tackle the business model of surveillance capitalism. Last December the European Commission...

The Council of Europe (CoE) has today taken a vital step towards stemming the trade in torture tools and execution equipment, Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation said, as they called on all CoE member states to live up to commitments made today.   The CoE Committee of...

On 15 December 2020, the European Commission has adopted two legislative proposals to govern the digital sphere: the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). These proposals have been eagerly awaited as there is a pressing need for a safer and more transparent online...

March 2021 This paper outlines Amnesty International’s key recommendations to the EU and EU member states participating in the Brussels V Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region. Millions of Syrian refugees are unable to return to the country due to ongoing violations of...

The 18th of March 2021 will mark five years since the announcement of the “EU-Turkey Statement”, under which EU and Turkish leaders agreed, among other things, that asylum seekers crossing from Turkey into Greek islands will be returned to Turkey. The statement led Greece to implement an array of...

Dear High Representative, Dear Ministers of Foreign Affairs, We write to you ahead of the 25-26 March European Council discussion on EU-Turkey relations. We welcome this opportunity and call on you to ensure that any decisions on the future development of EU-Turkey relations take the sharp decline...

Responding to the calls by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on the Turkish government to implement binding European Court of Human Rights judgments and release human rights defender, Osman Kavala and politician Selahattin Demirtaş, Amnesty International’s Europe Director Nils...

Ahead of the five year anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal on migration on 18 March, Amnesty International is calling on EU leaders to turn away from the five years of failed policies which have resulted in tens of thousands of people being forced to stay in inhumane conditions on the Greek islands,...

Civil society statement on the adoption of European Parliament Thursday, 11 March, 2021 Yesterday, the European Parliament adopted with a large majority, 504  in favour, 79 against and 112 abstentions, the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) legislative own-initiative report by MEP...