Rights and freedoms

ECJ rules Oriol Junqueras has the right to be a MEP

Today, European Court of Justice has ruled that our colleague Oriol Junqueras has the right to be a Member of the European Parliament. The Spanish Supreme Court had ruled that Junqueras could not take up his seat after he was elected in the last European elections in May, as he was in pretrial detention for having participated in the organization of a self-determination referendum in Catalonia. The Greens/EFA group have long been calling for a political solution.

European Parliament criticises China's repressive policy in Xinjiang

Sakharov Prize for Ilham Tohti

The Sakharov Prize this year goes to the Uighur professor of economics and civil rights activist Ilham Tohti.   Reinhard Bütikofer, Chairman of the China Delegation of the European Parliament and Greens/EFA spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, comments:"The European Parliament has t...

Parliament votes for Emily O'Reilly to continue work in holding EU institutions to account

European Ombudsman

The European Parliament has voted to elect Emily O'Reilly to continue in her current role as European Ombudsman, an independent role that is designed to hold EU institutions and bodies to account, as well as promoting good administration. O'Reilly won in the third round of votes. There were five candidates in the first round.

What's coming up this week

Greens/EFA priorities - plenary session 16-19 December 2019

A look ahead to the plenary session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Greens/EFA priority issues on the agenda

Automated Discrimination?

How to prevent bias in AI and Algorithmic Decision-Making

Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important yet invisible role in our everyday lives. The Greens/EFA Digital Working Group invites you to a hearing on 12 December 2019 to discuss the societal impact of automated decision-making processes with a special focus on discrimination.

North and East Syria/Rojava

A Regional and Global Litmus Test

This conference will focus on the current situation in North-east Syria/Rojava, and on the implication of the Turkish state in it.

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 25-28 November 2019

Greens/EFA priorities for the plenary week included the votes on climate emergency and the Climate Summit in Madrid (COP25), the new European Commission, the votes on the 2020 Budget, public country-by-country reporting, combatting gender-based violence, and an EP Mission to Malta following recent revelations around the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women & Istanbul Convention

Quote from Alice Bah Kuhnke, MEP

The EU must take a stand and end all gender based violence. The Commission must make violence against women and girls and other forms of gender-based violence a crime under EU law. We need considerably more investment in the fight against violence against women and a radical change of course to put an end to hatred against women.

Shrinking Spaces

Policing humanitarianism and human rights defenders

Civil society organisations are increasingly under pressure in Europe. NGOs engaged in helping refugees as well as human rights defenders fighting against rule of law backsliding are criminalised, intimidated and charged with legal restrictions. The conference will address how the criminalisation affects the rights of citizens and discuss ways to protect NGOs and human rights defenders.

30 years of children rights: let’s act!

Thirty years ago, 20 November 1989, Members of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). To date, it is the most widely ratified binding international treaty in the world - only the United States of America did not ratify it. However, there is still a lot of work to be done!

World Children's Day – Europe must do more to build a better world for all children

Press release from EFA MEP Diana Riba (ERC)

On World Children's Day – 20 November 2019 – EFA MEP Diana Riba has called for the EU to do more to build a better world for all children. That means ensuring that children's rights are respected in all aspects of EU law, and taking concrete steps to end child poverty in Europ...

ECJ ruling on Oriol Junqueras' rights as MEP

Press Release from EFA MEPs Alyn Smith (Scotland) & Diana Riba (Catalonia)

The European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament has welcomed today's opinion from the European Court of Justice's Advocate General in favour of Greens/EFA MEP Oriol Junqueras. The Advocate General stated that an MEP's mandate comes solely from the electorate and cannot be ...