Ahead of India’s 77th Republic Day Parade celebrations on 26 January and the EU-India Summit taking place the following day, Amnesty International urges the European Union and India to work together to counter global attacks on human rights.
“With human rights ever more embattled worldwide, it’s a crucial moment for two key global players both to get their own houses in order on human rights and to jointly re-assert the importance of human rights and the rule of law across all areas of their relations, including trade, security and defence, energy transition and people to people cooperation. In strengthening their efforts to promote and protect human rights both in domestic and foreign policy, India and the EU have the potential to achieve a partnership that can truly serve their people – and send an important signal for rights and rights holders worldwide,” said Eve Geddie, the Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.
“India must hold the EU accountable for its delivery on human rights in practice – and equally, the EU must no longer remain silent about India’s human rights record because of geostrategic and economic considerations”, said Aakar Patel, Chair of Amnesty International India.
“The EU must clearly denounce serious human rights violations and demand that India respect its commitments in this area. Where India and the EU fail to speak about human rights, when they are under attack worldwide, both sides will send a disastrous political signal of normalization and impunity. Human rights defenders and civil society in the EU and India must be able to count on their governments to deliver what they promise on human rights.”
Background
In India, Amnesty International has long documented the mounting use of repressive laws to restrict the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly and to crack down on peaceful dissent by harassing, surveilling and detaining human rights defenders, activists, journalists and members of civil society.
Abusive and discriminatory laws and policies against Muslims, Christians and other minorities have intensified alongside the punitive demolition of Muslim homes and other properties, despite a 2024 Supreme Court judgement and calls by United Nations independent human rights experts to end such demolitions.
Against this concerning backdrop, human rights receive shockingly short shrift in the New Strategic EU-India Agenda, published in October 2025, which defines the EU’s approach to relations with India for the coming years.
Meanwhile in Europe, EU member states have been rolling back respect for the rule of law and backtracking on their stated commitments, affecting the rights of people across Europe, including refugees and migrants in the EU and at its borders. Human rights defenders, activists and civil society organizations – in particular those working on climate justice, refugee and migrant rights, LGBTIQ+ rights, racism and Palestinians’ human rights – increasingly face threats including from smear campaigns, criminalization and restrictions on their work.
Both EU member states and India continue to transfer military equipment to Israel in violation of international law. Instead, they should impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, including all arms, equipment, technology or parts that allow Israel to carry out the genocide in Gaza, and maintain its unlawful occupation and system of apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
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