Amnesty International EU Office Press Release The first EU-Morocco summit: Don’t forget human rights in Western Sahara

25/02/2010 – In advance of the JHA Council on 25-26 February, which will include consideration of the proposed Internal Security Strategy (ISS), Amnesty International calls on the Ministers to recommit to upholding human rights in the context of countering terrorism and to seek accountability for Member States’ alleged complicity in the US-led rendition and secret detention programmes.

23/12/2009 – Letter to Baroness Ashton, High Representative of the European Union on the changed EU architecture with regard to foreign policy.

14/12/2009 – Amnesty International welcomes the public consultation on the EC’s Communication on the EU role in Global Health. The consultation could be used to ensure that the European Union’s (EU) internal and external actions related to Global Health are fully consistent with the EU’s commitment to place human rights at the core of sustainable development. To this end, Amnesty International underlines that the concept of global health should be explicitly addressed as a human rights issue.

(Brussels, 17 November) The EU must convey in the strongest possible terms its concern for the successive killings of human rights defenders in Russia and the absence of credible investigations, says Amnesty International ahead of tomorrow’s EU-Russia Summit.

Today’s EU-US Summit should result in concrete measures to tackle human rights violations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, says Amnesty International.

03/11/2009 – In a letter, Amnesty International urged the EU – who has just approved a new plan for strengthened action in Afghanistan + Pakistan – to look for common positions with the United States so that these issues can be urgently addressed.

27/10/2009 – The European Union has made both a political and financial commitment to assist the social and economic development of the Palestinian people; however, this important work is being seriously undermined and hindered by long standing restrictions on the right to water for millions of Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza. The European Union is the main donor to the Palestinians and as such has taken on particular responsibilities in this area.

27/10/2009 – The report “Troubled Waters – Palestinians Denied Fair Access To Water”, published by Amnesty International on 27 October 2009 details the extent to which Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) do not have access to adequate, safe water supplies, largely as a result of direct restrictions put in place by the Israeli authorities. Currently, Palestinian daily water consumption barely reaches 70 litres a day per person, which is well below the World Health Organisation’s recommended minimum, compared to over 300 litres a day per capita in Israel.