Parliament Pays Tribute to Russian Defenders of Human Rights. 

Alexei Navalny

On the occasion of the Sakharov Prize 2021 ceremony in Strasbourg on Wednesday, MEPs said they want to pay tribute to all defenders of human rights in Russia.  Like Andrei Sakharov, the eminent nuclear physicist and Soviet dissident, MEPs said they “courageously fight for democracy, truth and political freedom, despite efforts by the Kremlin to…

Diplomatic Boycott of China’s Winter Olympics

Reinhard Bütikofer

Commenting on today’s Foreign Affairs Council as well as tomorrow’s General Affairs Council, German MEP Reinhard Bütikofer, Foreign Policy Coordinator of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, has backed a diplomatic boycott of the winter Olympics in China. He said: “The Foreign Affairs Council and the General Affairs Council of the EU must prove…

Uzbekistan’s Artel joins UNGC

Artel Electronics

A pioneering United Nations initiative that advocates a commitment to human rights has won the support of its latest backer. The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) was launched in 2000 and is a voluntary leadership platform for the development, implementation, and disclosure of responsible business practices. The UNGC is non-binding UN pact to encourage businesses and…

EU Solidarity for Asylum Policy

Asylum Policy

The S&D Group says it is laying the groundwork for a solidarity-based response system in the EU’s common and asylum policy when faced with crisis situations.  In the draft report of the crisis regulation, LIBE chair and rapporteur Juan Fernando López Aguilar is proposing a new mandatory relocation framework to share responsibility and wants to…

Combatting Violence Against Women

Stop violence against women

The Socialists and Democrats have called on the European Commission to keep its word and finally present a strong directive to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women and girls. The S&Ds demand that the European Union recognise violence against women and girls as a serious crime in the treaty’s catalogue of crimes with…

EIB Transparency Policy?

sustainable investment EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB) – the financial arm of the EU – has approved a new Transparency Policy that will allow the bank to keep hiding information on projects it  finances despite their potential impacts on people and the environment.   The new policy, it is claimed, “further deteriorates” transparency conditions at the EIB…

Independent radio station Klubrádió sues Hungarian state at ECHR

Klubradi

Klubrádió, one of Hungary’s few remaining independent radio stations, says that it has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg after being forced off the airwaves in Hungary. Klubrádió is arguing that the Hungarian state violated the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression and the right to information….

11th November is Singles Day

Singles

Today, 35% of Belgian households consist of one person. In large cities such as Brussels, half of all households are already single-person households. All population projections point to a further increase in this group in the coming decades. So let’s be silly for once. Let’s turn the world upside down and take single people – and…

EPP Seeks More Sanctions on Belarus as Border Situation Deteriorates

Belarus migrants

The EPP Group is calling for sanctions to stop the flood of migrants to Belarus, including a ban on the airlines involved in Lukashenko’s human trafficking. The call came ahead of a parliamentary plenary debate on the migration crisis on the EU’s eastern border. “As EU Ambassadors consider a new package of sanctions on the…

Protecting Children’s Rights

children's rights

In 2021, children have been repeatedly caught in the midst of political and border management disputes on the EU’s external borders, but children’s rights are not protected. These developments call for a renewed commitment to the protection, safe-guarding, and best interests of children, says Afshan Khan, Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Response in Europe,….