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The European Union guidelines on human rights defenders, adopted in 2004 and revised in 2008, establish a framework and instruments for protecting human rights activists in third countries. During the March I plenary session, Members will debate their implementation, on the basis of an own-initiative assessment report from Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs. Later in the session, the Council and Commission are due to make statements on the specific situation of human rights defenders working ...

Even though the EU and Iran have worked together over the past 4 years to save the nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), relations between the two sides have reached a new low. The EU is concerned about the acceleration of Iran's nuclear programme in violation of the JCPOA and the country's reluctance to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency. In addition, the Iranian authorities' violent crackdown on and execution of peaceful protesters has ...

Enhanced and more focused cooperation between the European Union (EU) and member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has become a priority for the EU, with a view to jointly addressing a series of global and regional challenges. Building on strong ties established over decades of a close trading and investment relationship, the EU is now seeking to put relations on a more secure footing, with new impetus and a much broader scope. A joint communication on a strategic partnership with the ...

Most of the 'programming documents' (multiannual indicative programmes and annual or multiannual action plans) for cooperation with EU partner countries and regions under the new Global Europe Instrument are now in place. A new session of the high-level geopolitical dialogue between the Commission and the Parliament took place on 8 November 2022. In a post-pandemic context and a volatile security environment marked by a devastating war at its eastern borders, the EU's multiple worldwide cooperation ...

The creation of the African Union (AU) in 2002 sparked hopes for a new era in African integration that would put an end to the most egregious violations of human rights and democratic norms that have plagued the region since its countries achieved independence. To fulfil this mission, the AU was endowed with broader competences and new institutional mechanisms. More and more African countries have ratified new and existing continental human rights and governance treaties, but AU members have adhered ...

Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine triggered fears of an unprecedented global food crisis, adding to the devastating impact of the war. A swift response by the international community, including the United Nations–Türkiye-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, has been instrumental in unblocking Ukrainian food exports and stabilising the markets. Combined with the EU solidarity lanes launched in May 2022, more than 25 million tonnes have been exported. On 17 November, Russia confirmed, in extremis ...

Following the indefinite postponement of elections in December 2021, the political and security situation in Libya deteriorated further in 2022, deepening the political stalemate and division in the country. Libya is still lacking unified national institutions, a widely accepted constitution and an electoral framework. The new United Nations envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathiliy, was appointed in September 2022. Among his priorities are supporting agreement on a constitutional framework and timeline ...

There are major concerns in the EU in relation to the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions associated with investor protection agreements. ISDS relies on a legal framework of arbitration that is separate from domestic courts. This analysis provides an overview of ISDS cases involving current EU Member States. The main finding is that, on average, nearly 16 % of claimed amounts translate into (known) compensation in cases involving current EU Member State respondents. Nearly a third ...

African countries, which disproportionately suffer from the adverse impacts of climate change, are aiming to strongly voice their position at the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27, 6-18 November 2022) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is hosted by one of them, Egypt. African states and the African Union (AU) insist that richer industrial countries, which bear greater responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, should do more to tackle them. According to the African ...

For the past two weeks, Iran has seen massive protests over the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman arrested for allegedly violating Iran's compulsory veiling laws. Protests have spread to more than 150 cities across Iran, including universities. The government has reacted violently to the protests, leading to at least 75 deaths and over a thousand arrests. Iranians are protesting not just against Amini's death, but also against an increasingly repressive regime that ...