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...

SUMMARYOn 23 September 2020, the European Commission presented a new Pact on Migration and Asylum whichincluded a number of legislative proposals to change the way EU member state authorities should dealwith people arriving irregularly at their external borders. Among the legislative measures...

As Cyprus human rights situation comes under scrutiny following the brutal repression of anti-corruption protesters in the past weeks, Amnesty International is further concerned that the right to freedom of association in the country is also under threat. Prominent organization KISA, an association...

Responding to the acquittal of three women human rights activists in Poland on charges of ‘offending religious beliefs’ for distributing posters of the Virgin Mary with a halo in the rainbow colours of the LGBTI pride flag, Catrinel Motoc, Senior Campaigner in Amnesty International’s Europe...

18 February 2021 The arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of the 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 and other civil society activists and...

Dear Permanent Representative, In recent years, Amnesty International has reported extensively on the arbitrary use of criminal law to silence human rights defenders and government critics in Turkey. The ongoing pre-trial detention of Osman Kavala and of Selahattin Demirtaş, despite the European...

End exploitation and raise labour standards in European agriculture At least ten million people are employed in European agriculture, mainly as seasonal workers, day labourers or in other insecure statuses. Despite being defined as essential by the EU institutions and national governments when...