Human Rights
All over the world there are people who do what we take for granted: Denounce corruption, protect their local forest, express their opinions freely, love who they want to love. And yet they are threatened, persecuted and murdered for doing so. Their fight for freedom is our fight for freedom.
Experience shows: When it comes to protecting human rights defenders, the EU can make a difference, especially if it stands united. As Vice-Chair of the Human Rights Committee (DROI), I bring the voices of human rights defenders, who are under increasing pressure worldwide, to Parliament and call for their support. We must not remain silent when people’s rights are being trampled on elsewhere.
The resolution passed by the European Parliament in response to the Taliban’s adoption of the law on the “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”.
Dissidents and journalists who fled their own country are often not safe: Authoritarian regimes and dictatorships continue to target them even outside national borders. The EU must finally address this issue!
The enemies of freedom and democracy are joining forces across all ideological boundaries. We should do something to counter this!
2024 is a year of many crises and conflicts around the world. And more than half of the world's population will be voting in 2024. It was against this backdrop that the MSC took place in February. I took part in two panels.
In December, together with the Delegation to the Arabian Peninsula, I travelled to Yemen - a country suffering from a terrible war that receives almost no international attention. This was the European Parliament's first official visit to Yemen since 2009.
The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize 2023 to Jina Mahsa Amini (posthumously) and the Woman Life Freedom movement. Now it is time to follow up words with actions.
COP 28 is taking place in the United Arab Emirates this year. We need the Gulf states on the team “climate protection” and at the same time, we must clearly address human rights violations. More in my plenary speech.
We need a feminist foreign policy in Europe right now. But where do we stand and where are we heading? We discussed this at a conference I organised. The keynote speech was given by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
As head of the delegation to the Arabian Peninsula, I travelled to Saudi Arabia. Topics included the regional security situation, the war in Ukraine, the fight against climate change in the run-up to COP 28 and Saudi Arabia's economic and social development, including human rights.
EU Visa are a powerful tool to support Human Rights Defenders at risk who are based outside the European Union. But it is still too difficult for HRDs to obtain them. I initiated a conference in Spain on the issue
On the anniversary of Jina Mahsa Amini's death, we brought insights into the long struggle for freedom in Iran to the stage in Berlin.
