The COVID-19 pandemic is demonstrating all too well that unequal societies go hand-in-hand with human suffering, fragile economies and delicate democracies.

People’s rights are being violated by governments in Europe and Central Asia, who are cracking down on protests and seeking to erode the independence of the judiciary to avoid accountability, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual review of human rights in the region.

Dear Mr Schmidt,

We the undersigned civil society organisations and trade unions, are calling for effective EU legislation that establishes a mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence framework for business, companies and financial institutions operating, or offering a product or service, within the EU. Such legislation should establish a corporate duty to respect human rights and the environment and require companies and financial institutions to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for abuses and harm in their domestic and global operations, activities, products, services, supply chains and exports. The legislation should hold such companies legally accountable and provide access to justice for victims.

Honduras is one of the most dangerous and difficult places for HRDs worldwide, in particular for those working on land and environmental issues. The EU faces many challenges to respond meaningfully here, including:

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.

Spain’s austerity measures are in direct conflict with the government’s obligation to fulfil the right to health.

09/07/2015 – Amnesty International wishes to urgently draw your attention to the risk of imminent forced evictions in Nairobi, Kenya, which risks taking place under the European Union (EU) funded ‘Missing Link 15 B’ road construction project. Over 1000 families residing in the Deep Sea settlement in Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya, are at risk of human rights violations in the absence of adequate human rights safeguards, and ahead of the evictions that would start from 8 July 2015 onward, as announced by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA).

Corporación Claretiana Norman Pérez Bello -Centro Claretiano de Investigación y Educación Popular

21/03/2013 – In a letter sent to Viktor Orbán Prime Minister of Hungary on the 8th of March, Amnesty International outlined its concerns regarding the proposed Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary (the Constitution).