AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ADVISORY

14/11/2016 – I write in advance of the 17 November donors’ Conference on the Central African Republic (CAR) in Brussels, to urge you to lead efforts of the European Union (EU) and its member states to put accountability, the consolidation of the rule of law and the reconstruction of the penal chain at the centre of discussions at the conference.

…traumatized people, arriving in Italy after harrowing journeys, are being subjected to flawed assessments and in some instances appalling abuse at the hands of the police, as well as unlawful expulsions

03/11/2016 – Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, fleeing conflict, human right violations and poverty, have crossed the Mediterranean in the past three years in search of safe haven or a better life. In the absence of safe and legal routes into Europe, they have travelled irregularly, at considerable risk to their own lives. This has posed significant challenges to European leaders, who have largely failed to meet them. They have placed a particularly large burden on Greece, but also on Italy, which has led efforts to save lives at sea and has seen over 150 thousand irregular arrivals for each of the last three years. Rather than creating a bold, orderly system providing safe avenues for people to seek protection in Europe, and advocating for the respect and protection of human rights in countries where conflict and persecution are displacing people, European leaders have resorted to negotiating with human rights violating governments to stop them coming. Rather than promoting solidar

SUGGESTED EU RULES ON CONFLICT MINERAL TRADE RISK EXCLUSION OF 90% OF IMPORTERS

These refugees have been betrayed by a system which not only failed to offer them the protection to which they were entitled, but failed to consider their protection needs at all

Not content with undermining the rule of law, the new Polish government has spent its first year in power eroding human rights protections in key areas

26/10/2016 – The Afghanistan donor conference that took place on October 4 and 5 2016 brought together representatives from 75 countries and 26 international organizations. €13.6 billion was pledged – amongst other priorities – to “end violence and a political process towards lasting peace and reconciliation.”

If these refugees were sent to Turkey without due consideration of their asylum claim, this is undoubtedly a case of refoulement

Hungary’s Mistreatment of Refugees Today Ignores History

European Council: Rushing asylum appeals process would not be fair or legal

Trading the return of people who reached the EU to seek asylum to one of a country that is still clearly unstable, for vitally needed humanitarian and development aid is sordid and immoral.