Refugee week this year will be even more important than ever. We need to do all we can to roll back the tide of misinformation, scapegoating, hate speech and hostility. Please let us know about events you are organising in your communities so that we can share ideas and support each other across the country. And as always we are happy to give talks, on-line and in person. Kind regards Ulrike and the Amnesty Europe country coordinators team.
Refugee Week 2025
by Ulrike Schmidt
Fuelled by the hateful rhetoric of Trump, Farage and far right leaders across Europe refugees fleeing war, violence and persecution are confronted with increasing hostility in most European countries and even deadlier routes.
Migration has become a deeply polarising issue, often framed through opposing political ideologies. This divisive discourse serves as a harmful and dehumanising tool, reinforcing the “othering” of people on the move. As political groups and governments continue to weaponize migration to further their agendas, those most affected by increasingly hostile policies are left in precarious and vulnerable situations.
It must be our role as Human Rights defenders to challenge the scapegoating of refugees and migrants on every step. Refugees and migrants are not the cause of the housing crisis, the selling off and halt in building council housing is. Refugees and migrants are often working in the NHS, they are not responsible for long waiting lists, cuts in funding are. Cuts in education budgets are responsible for large class sizes, in fact in London many schools are closed due to declining pupil numbers; instead of enhancing education by teaching smaller groups schools are amalgamated or shut and pupils shoved into large classes.
Refugee Week gives us the opportunity to organise events celebrating the contributions refugees are making to society at large and our communities and to challenge the hateful rhetoric from populists, far right and some of our political leaders. Refugees Welcome ! Seeking Asylum is a Human Right !
Hayward Heath group are organising a film event for 20. June, International Refugee day. Watford group are organising a screening of “Green Border “ for the 19th of July. I am involved in organising 2 very different events : an evening based on film and talk at Kensington North Library and a celebration with music and poetry in Walthamstow.
Amnesty International Refugee Week at Kensington North Library
Thursday 19th June 6-8pm Refugees Welcome !
Join us for an evening of discussion and celebration.
We are celebrating the many contributions migrants and refugees are making to our communities, working in the NHS and many other parts of public service. We are going to show how European institutions are undermining human rights to fortify Fortress Europe, in Poland, Greece , Italy , UK … And we are celebrating how ordinary people are showing humanity, compassion and solidarity.
We are featuring the photo exhibition
‘Scars and solidarity’ by Chiara Fabbro, the short film Dover 82 with Aria Danaparamita, and Amnesty International country coordinators Lucja Jastrzebska and Ulrike Schmidt.
The event is free but space is limited : please book your place on Eventbrite
Updates from Fortress Europe
And for a celebratory fundraiser for Care4Calais with life-music, poetry and cakes join No-0ne is a Stranger in Walthamstow. Organised by Stand up to Racism, Love Music hate Racism and Care4Calais. I will be contributing the talk on Pylos and the deadly effects of Fortress Europe. 
Background : in 2023 over 117 million people were forcibly displaced world-wide : 3 out of 4 refugees are hosted in low and middle income countries near their countries of origin. 75% of displaced people globally are from just 20 countries featured on the IRC’s latest Emergency Watchlist, which highlights the places at greatest risk of facing deteriorating humanitarian emergencies this year. However, the vast majority of people forced from their homes remain in their own region , and just a tiny fraction seek to reach protection in Europe. Still, EU states have consistently failed to reach an agreement on how to deal with people seeking safety on its territory, resulting in political polarisation and immense suffering and human rights violations at Europe’s borders. (figures from Rescue.org/EU).
On the 27th of March 2025, the Polish government passed a law that suspended the right to claim asylum at the Belarus/Polish border. This is a violation of European and International law and is likely to create a dire situation for the people on the move at this border who are already facing harsh conditions and violence.
The practice of forced pushbacks by Greek authorities has been consistently documented by human rights organizations. In August 2023, a joint third-party intervention by ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights), PRO ASYL, and Refugee Support Aegean argued that pushbacks are not isolated but part of a broader, coordinated policy to deter migration. Their evidence revealed problematic details of Greece’s border control operations, highlighting a range of violent and unlawful actions, including the secret detention of people on the move in the Evros region, forced returns in rubber dinghies, and the use of inflatable boats to expel people into the Aegean Sea.
In January 2025, the European Court of Human Rights made a pivotal decision, condemning Greece for its ongoing use of pushbacks.
ECCHR: Greece’s systematic pushback practice confirmed by European Court of Human Rights
Justice for Pylos
On 14th June 2023 a fishing vessel packed with 750 refugees including over 100 children capsized and sank after being towed violently by a patrol boat of the Greek coastguard. Over 600 people dies.
Now 2 years on finally 17 coastguard officers, including the captain and the crew of the patrol boat have been charged. But senior officers in the control room at the time have not. Amnesty International and other Human Rights organisations will be monitoring the trial.
In March, the European Commission introduced the common approach on returns, which includes the introduction of a new legal framework, a Regulation, and plans to lower the level of safeguards afforded to returnees in relation to several aspects of the return procedures. It introduces punitive consequences for returnees’ non-compliance affecting their access to social services, health services, etc. It also expands the duration of detention, and enhances the externalization of returns by introducing the creation of return hubs, i.e. third countries where people could be returned, without needing to have a connection to the country.
Please read on following the links on what this means in practice.
EU: Return proposals a “new low” for Europe’s treatment of migrants – Amnesty International
Offshore detention is inhumane — I know because I lived it – Amnesty International
European policies to externalize border management to Tunisia are supporting security authorities who are committing serious violations. They are also obstructing people’s rights to leave any country and to seek asylum, containing refugees and migrants in countries where their human rights are at risk.
In view of the rampant human rights violations against migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in Tunisia, especially those who are Black; Tunisia’s lack of an asylum system; the Tunisian government’s crackdown on civil society, judicial independence, and the media; and the impossibility of fairly and individually determining nationalities or assessing the protection needs of migrants and asylum seekers while at sea, it is clear that Tunisia is not a safe place for the disembarkation of people intercepted or rescued at sea. The ongoing cooperation between the European Union (EU), EU member states, and Tunisia on migration control which includes reliance on the possibility to disembark people rescued or intercepted at sea in Tunisia – similar to previous cooperation with Libya – is contributing to human rights violations.
Poland
by Lucja Jastrzebska
Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Amnesty International Public Statement
Law “suspending” asylum claims is a flagrant violation of international law and poses a serious threat to the rights of refugees and migrants
On 27 March 2025, Poland introduced a 60-day suspension of the right to submit applications for international protection at the country’s borders with Belarus, triggering the powers granted to the Polish authorities in situation of alleged “instrumentalization” of migration movements, under a new law adopted by the Polish Parliament on 21 February 2025.
The powers introduced by the new law effectively codify the carrying out of unlawful forced returns (“pushbacks”) at the border, by empowering border guards to disregard asylum applications without consideration for people’s individual circumstances. They are inconsistent and incompatible with international law and the Polish constitution, and pose a threat to the lives and human rights of people wishing to apply for asylum at the border.
Read the full statement and Amnesty recommendations here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur37/9322/2025/en/
Commission steps up support for Member States to strengthen EU security and counter the weaponization of migration
The serious and persistent nature of the hybrid threats at the Eastern EU border by Russia and Belarus, pose new challenges for the EU. To guarantee security and territorial integrity in this exceptional context, Member States bordering Russia and Belarus must be able to act decisively. This calls for a strengthened EU response, in full respect of EU and international law
Read more here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_6251
Women
Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, 93rd pre-sessional Working Group, 7 – 11 July 2025
Amnesty International presents this submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in advance of the adoption of lists of issues prior to reporting on Poland in July 2025. The submission has a specific focus on the severe limitations to abortion access and persecution of women human rights defenders in Poland. Amnesty International also analyses the threats of gender-based violence and the relevant legislation in Poland. It should not be seen as an exhaustive account of the organization’s concerns on the wider topic of discrimination against women.
Read the full submission and Amnesty recommendations here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur37/9395/2025/en/
Türkiye
by Chris Ramsey
Further feedback from the Gezi Prisoners of Conscience
In the last few weeks the York local group has received the following messages from two of the remaining five Gezi Prisoners of Conscience:
From Can Atalay
With or last card, the group sent a photo of the interior of York’s Amnesty bookshop as the group meets there. Can wrote:
“Dear friends, What a cute bookshop! Your focus on human rights is so valuable, especially with what we all live nowadays. Everyone seems to forget how and why we have these rights. Everyone except you…..”
From Osman Kavala
“We’ve having eventful times. The arrest of Imamoglu* caused a big shock and -fortunately- a strong reaction. University students were active in the protests. Some of them were detained, then released except a smaller group. In general, the opposition is very much motivated and Imamoglu’s popularity is on rise. We are in the same building with him, saluting each other when we are in nearby cubicles talking with our lawyers.
There is a long time for the elections. Imamoglu plans to run his campaign from the prison, he sends regular messages and gives directives! I hope this momentum could be maintained. Anyway, the prison has become much more popular! The arrested district mayors of Istanbul as well as Umit Ozdag the president of the smaller nationalist party (advocating immediate expulsion of immigrants from Syria) are also here.”
*Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, arrested in March as described in our last newsletter
Please do continue to send them solidarity cards and messages
Osman Kavala to be awarded Germany’s prestigious Goethe Medal
Turkish civil society leader Osman Kavala will receive the 2025 Goethe Medal, Germany’s official badge of honour for contributions to international cultural exchange, the Goethe-Institut has announced. You will recall that he is serving a life sentence in Turkey without parole on charges widely viewed (including by the Council of Europe) as politically motivated. The Goethe Medal, awarded annually since 1955, recognizes individuals whose work fosters intercultural dialogue and promotes the German language and culture abroad. See link to article:
UK Government Statement on Türkiye
Delivered at Türkiye’s Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
UK Mission to the WTO, UN and other international organisations (Geneva) published the following statement on 6 May 2025:
We recognise efforts by Türkiye to address human rights concerns. The UK urges Türkiye to take further action to uphold freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and media freedom, in accordance with its international human rights obligations.
We recommend Türkiye:
- Strengthens judicial independence by amending constitutional provisions for appointing members of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, ensuring peer election and preventing executive interference.
- Protects workers’ rights by enhancing legal frameworks for trade unions, prevents harassment and intimidation, and guarantees the right to union activities without reprisals.
- Eliminates restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, ensuring no undue interference and allows independent media to operate freely, without fear of censorship.
PRESS RELEASE
Criminalisation of Istanbul Bar Association and dismissal of executive board, a chilling attack on the independence of lawyers: UN experts
GENEVA (30 May 2025) – UN experts* today expressed alarm at the criminal charges against 10 members of the Istanbul Bar Association, and its President, İbrahim Kaboğlu and the arrest of board member Firat Epözdemir, following the Bar Association’s statement calling for an effective investigation into the deaths of two journalists in a conflict zone.
The President of the Bar Association and its members were charged with disseminating ‘terrorist propaganda’ and ‘public dissemination of misleading information’.
“Criminal prosecution in retaliation for the exercise of free speech is an alarming assault on freedom of expression and lawyers’ rights to practice their profession and express their views in line with international standards,” the experts said. “This attempt to silence the Bar Association by weaponising the law is an appalling violation of international law and sets a troubling precedent.”
“It is particularly unsettling that the criminal investigation follows a statement that called for accountability and justice for journalists killed while doing their work,” they said. “Efforts to fight impunity, particularly for killings of journalists, should be upheld and not criminalised.”
On 21 December 2024, the Istanbul Bar Association issued a statement condemning the deaths of two journalists reportedly killed in a Turkish drone strike in Northern Syria on 19 December 2024. The statement stressed that the targeting of journalists in conflict zones is a violation of international humanitarian law and called for an effective investigation into the deaths of the two journalists.
On 22 December 2024, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched a criminal investigation against the Bar’s leadership, on grounds of disseminating terrorist propagandaand “publicly disseminating misleading information”. The criminal hearing is scheduled for 28 and 29 May 2025 at the Marmara prison (formerly Silivri prison).
Following a lawsuit filed by the same Prosecutor, on 21 March this year, the Istanbul 2nd Assize Court issued a ruling to remove the elected leadership of the Istanbul Bar Association under Article 77/5 of the Attorneyship Law, claiming it had exceeded its professional mandate. The decision mandates the dismissal of the Bar’s president and executive board and orders new elections.
“The executive body of a bar association must be able to perform its functions without external interference,” the experts said.
They warned that the weaponization of misinformation and terrorism-related charges to punish and silence calls for justice and accountability was a misuse of the criminal justice system and a clear breach of international law and standards.
“Under international law, counter-terrorism legislation must be sufficiently precise to prevent its use to unjustifiably limit the exercise of fundamental freedoms,” they said.
“This is a case of legal harassment that should be dismissed at the earliest opportunity,” the experts said. “We call for the immediate release of Firat Epözdemir, who has been detained since 25 January in connection with these accusations.”
The experts recalled that the free exercise of the legal profession was crucial to ensure access to justice, oversight of state power, protection of due process and judicial guarantees.
“States must guarantee that those who practice law can do so free from intimidation, obstacles, harassment or interference,” they said, “their function is key to the right to a fair trial”.
The experts have been in touch with Türkiye about their concerns
30th anniversary tribute to the Saturday Mothers/People
A street artist has painted a mural of the Saturday Mothers/People right next to the police checkpoint in Galatasaray Square.
Photo: Saturday Mothers/People
Marking 30 years of their resistance at Galatasaray Square as of May 27, the Saturday Mothers/People are known for demanding justice for their loved ones who were forcibly disappeared during the 1980s and 1990s.
An unnamed street artist made the Saturday Mothers/People and their struggle visible through a mural on the wall of Galatasaray Square.
In a post shared on social media, families of the disappeared stated: “On the 30th anniversary of our arrival at Galatasaray Square, we extend our heartfelt thanks to the street artist who saluted the Saturday Mothers with their meaningful work just beside the square.”
The artist’s intervention has been interpreted as a message of solidarity against the years-long police repression, protest bans, and the barricading of the area surrounding Galatasaray Square.
Constitutional Court rulings still not enforced
The Saturday Mothers/People began their peaceful gatherings at Galatasaray Square on May 27, 1995, calling for investigations into the fate and whereabouts of hundreds who were forcibly disappeared or killed after the 1980 military coup and during the 1990s state of emergency.
Most of the alleged perpetrators, said to have been part of the state’s security apparatus or paramilitary groups, escaped justice due to the expiration of the 30-year statute of limitations. In the few cases that went to court, suspects were acquitted.
Since August 2018, Galatasaray Square has been surrounded by metal barricades, and armed police have maintained a continuous presence. Two Constitutional Court rulings in 2022 and 2023 found that the applicants’ right to peaceful assembly had been violated and ordered the state to prevent further violations, but these rulings remain unenforced.
Between April and November 2023, attempts by the Saturday Mothers/People to gather at the square in line with these binding rulings were met with violent police interventions, and group members were detained. Although police interventions and detentions have ceased since November 2023, authorities have arbitrarily limited participation in the group’s weekly protests in front of the metal barricades to just 10 people.
