Authorities in European states must immediately halt the transfer of refugees and asylum seekers from the North Caucasus back to Russia where they will be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment and potentially forced to fight in Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, said Amnesty International in a new research document published today. Europe:…
Wildfire in Rhodes, Greece
Responding to yesterday’s arrest in Croatia of activist and member of the band Pussy Riot, Aysoltan Niyazov, who faces possible extradition to Turkmenistan, Amnesty International’s Julia Hall, Deputy Director for Europe, said: “The Croatian authorities know that Aysoltan Niyazov’s activism would put her at great risk of suffering serious abuse, including torture and other ill-treatment,…
An investigation by the EU’s independent oversight body has found that the European Commission (EC) failed to ensure that fundamental human rights were respected in EU-funded border operations by Croatian authorities since 2018. During that time, widespread abuses against migrants and asylum seekers by Croatian border guards have been documented, including people being bound, brutally…
Croatian authorities have consistently assaulted refugees and migrants and denied them access to asylum, in contravention of European and International law, said Amnesty International, in response to a damning report released by the Council of Europe’s Committee on Prevention of Torture (CPT) today. The CPT’s report on the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers by…
Reacting to today’s judgement by the European Court of Human Rights that Croatia violated the rights of Madina Hussiny, a six-year-old girl who was hit and killed by a train after being pushed back to Serbia in 2017, Massimo Morratti, Deputy Director for Europe at Amnesty International, said: “This is a huge victory for justice…
Spokespeople available Responding to a new investigation by Lighthouse Reports which documents how authorities in several European Union (EU) countries have violently rounded up migrants and asylum seekers and summarily returned them to countries outside EU borders, Jelena Sesar, Balkans Researcher at Amnesty International said: “This is the latest evidence that unlawful pushbacks and violence…
As the European Court of Human Rights considers a landmark case on climate change brought by six young people from Portugal against 33 European countries, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations and academics have intervened in the case today. They have provided the Court with legal arguments on how government climate policies must protect…
EU: Inquiry into European complicity in Croatian border violence against migrants and refugees ‘significant’ The European Ombudsman’s Office has today announced that it will open an inquiry into the possible failure of the European Commission to ensure that Croatian authorities respected fundamental rights while conducting EU-funded border operations against migrants and refugees. Commenting on the…
Following reports that two Croatian police officers have been criminally charged for beating a migrant from Afghanistan who was stopped close to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jelena Sesar, Amnesty International’s Researcher for Balkans said: “This is the first time that a police officer has been charged for committing the type of violence against…
In a horrifying escalation of police human rights violations at the Croatian border with Bosnia, a group of migrants and asylum seekers was recently bound, brutally beaten and tortured by officers who mocked their injuries and smeared food on their bleeding heads to humiliate them, Amnesty International has revealed today. Amnesty International spoke to six…
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. The organization praised those brave people who took to…