Frontline organisations in Spain, Austria and Belgium describe a familiar pattern: the EU’s anti-trafficking rules are sound, but the systems meant to carry them out are not keeping pace. This article examines how Directive (EU) 2024/1712 is being implemented in practice.
Ursula von der Leyen’s second State of the Union address set out the EU’s priorities on competitiveness, climate resilience, security, artificial intelligence and child protection. While the address presented a broad agenda for a stronger and more resilient Europe, human rights concerns received limited attention.
This press release summarizes discussions on the European Union’s revised Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) framework ahead of its 2027 implementation. It highlights proposed changes to GSP+ eligibility, strengthened compliance and monitoring mechanisms, concerns regarding human rights performance in beneficiary countries, and the relationship between trade preferences and international human rights obligations.
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2026, the European Parliament highlighted the global decline of media independence due to violence, legal harassment, and AI-driven disinformation. Experts and lawmakers demanded the EU move beyond condemnation to concrete action, such as better funding distribution, monitoring internal violations of the Media Freedom Act, and using diplomatic leverage to protect journalists worldwide.
This article summarises a European Parliament exchange of views on statelessness, forced exile, and the deprivation of nationality as tools of repression. Speakers highlighted how authoritarian governments and discriminatory legal systems leave millions without nationality, restricting access to healthcare, education, documentation, and protection. Testimonies from Nicaragua and the Rohingya community illustrated the severe human consequences of forced displacement and denationalisation, while experts and civil society representatives called for stronger EU sanctions, more coherent foreign policy, improved asylum protections, and sustained international accountability efforts.
This article covers a European Parliament FEMM Committee hearing on the rise of AI-facilitated gender-based violence, particularly the spread of non-consensual deepfake pornography and “nudifier” applications. Experts, lawmakers, and civil society representatives warned that existing AI and digital platform laws are failing due to weak enforcement and profit-driven platform models. The hearing stressed the urgent need for stronger corporate accountability, EU-wide bans on exploitative AI tools, improved protection for women and children online, and a proactive approach that treats digital safety as a fundamental human rights and public health issue.
This article summarises a European Parliament DROI exchange of views on the escalating criminalisation, violence, and discrimination faced by LGBTIQ+ persons, particularly across Africa and among displaced queer communities. Speakers highlighted how anti-rights legislation increasingly targets identity, advocacy, healthcare, and public expression, while displaced LGBTIQ+ refugees face severe violence, exclusion, and humanitarian neglect. The discussion stressed the importance of sustained EU engagement, protection for human rights defenders, stronger asylum safeguards, and support for locally led initiatives grounded in universal human rights principles.
This press release highlights a European Parliament hearing on the forced recruitment of third-country nationals into Russia’s war against Ukraine. It points to growing evidence of trafficking, coercion, and deception targeting vulnerable migrants through false job offers and exploitative recruitment networks. The hearing called for stronger international cooperation, victim protection, and accountability for those responsible.
This article humanizes Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) by taking a deep dive into the external and internal challenges they face in today’s highly dystopian world. External challenges range from funding cuts, shrinking civic space, and smear campaigns. Internally, issues rise from rigid hierarchies influenced by reputation seeking board members with elite links, donor-imposed conditions that shift priorities, and employees working with low remunerations.
Agroindustrial food systems are increasingly framed through the language of sustainability, efficiency and food security. However, this discourse coexists with a production model that continues to generate environmental degradation, public health impacts and human rights violations at a global scale.
