Human rights
-
Hungary: ‘It is not about sanctions’
13 May 2013131PresseuropNépszabadság -
Diplomacy: An EU human rights representative?
9 March 2012603PresseuropJyllands-Posten -
Refugees: Asylum in Europe — a mirage across the water
3 August 20113148 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Belarus: International campaign against Lukaschenko
9 March 2011PresseuropThe Independent -
Belarus: Lukashenko, our own merciless dictator
8 March 20113553 The Independent London -
North Africa: Libya's revolution, Europe's shame
23 February 201111822 El País Madrid -
Poland: Restaurants not for Roms
27 January 2011213PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
EU-Uzbekistan: Our man in Tashkent
24 January 201176 De Standaard Brussels -
EU-North Africa: A tragedy in the making
10 January 2011207 Le Soir Brussels -
Belarus: Lukashenko's secret services crush opposition
21 December 2010PresseuropDie Tageszeitung -
Human rights: Muzzled voice of Cuba
16 December 2010PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Human Rights: Lady Ashton fails to do the Nobel thing
10 December 2010341PresseuropDagens Nyheter -
Diplomacy: Paris rolls over for Beijing
4 November 2010PresseuropLes Echos -
United Kingdom: Torture guide for Her Majesty’s army
26 October 2010PresseuropThe Guardian -
Cuba / EU: Castros offer dissidents for sale
22 July 20101PresseuropDie Tageszeitung -
Human rights: Dissidents oppose friendlier EU Cuba policy
15 July 2010PresseuropLa Vanguardia -
POLAND: Warsaw under fire over equality rules
29 June 2010PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Belgium-DR Congo: Atrocities report spoils celebrations
17 March 2010PresseuropDe Morgen -
Turkey: European justice is Turkish delight
19 February 2010261 Trouw Amsterdam -
Human rights: Europe can close Guantánamo
25 January 2010The Irish Times Dublin -
Immigration: Rescuing boat people is no crime
8 October 2009PresseuropDie Tageszeitung -
China: Look who's coming to Europe
23 September 2009141 Handelsblatt Düsseldorf -
Immigration: The huddled masses at 4,000 euros a head
22 September 2009PresseuropEl Mundo -
Democratisation: EU too soft on hardline regimes
14 September 2009PresseuropDer Tagesspiegel -
Human rights: Rangoon junta runs on Total
10 September 2009PresseuropLibération -
Middle East: Moving closer to Syria
27 August 2009The Guardian London -
Human rights: Extradition in a fine mess
7 August 2009The Guardian London
Twenty-five refugees have just suffocated in the engine room of a boat bound for Italy. Their deaths are not merely another episode in the decades-old refugee crisis along Europe's southern coasts, but are part of the European strategy for deterring asylum-seekers. 
While Europe's eyes are on Middle East revolutions, a dictator in the east quietly crushes his opposition. But voices are beginning to make themselves heard. 
Faced with the massacres perpetrated by the Gaddafi regime against its own people, how can the EU content itself with calling for “restraint”, while spending more time worrying about an influx of refugees? Madrid daily El País publishes an indignant editorial. 
When talking to dictators, Europe applies a double standard: quick to snap at Lukashenko of Belarus, it plays much nicer with Karimov of Uzbekistan, as it did with Ben Ali. But is it really worth the trouble? asks political analyst Bruno De Cordier. 
In turning a blind eye to the corruption, nepotism and human rights violations of North African governments, the EU should share some of the blame for the violence that has recently erupted in Tunisia and Algeria, argues Belgian journalist Baudouin Loos. 
Violations of freedom of religion, equality before the law, human rights: a great many Turks bypass their own legal system to put their case directly to the European Court of Human Rights. A phenomenon that vexes jurists no end, but is gradually changing the Turkish mindset. 
One year after Barack Obama announced his intention to dismantle Guantánamo, 198 prisoners still remain at the notorious detention centre. Colm O'Gorman in the Irish Times argues that Europe, having facilitated extraordinary rendition flights and CIA secret detention centres, made Guantánamo possible, and must open its doors to former detainees. 
Pressing ahead with its worldwide expansion agenda, China is now snatching up contracts in highly-indebted Eastern Europe. Beijing is hell bent on out-leveraging the Western competition there by offering dumping prices and cheap loans. But this is not just about fat contracts, writes the Handelsblatt: the Middle Kingdom is also buying political sway.
Britain’s recent call to bring Syria into the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is part of a wider western strategy to tempt the previously isolated Ba'athist regime away from Iran and continue co-operation with the west in Iraq and Lebanon. Chris Philips at the Guardian wonders whether we are witnessing another example of human rights and democracy being sacrificed for political expediency. 
The 2002 European arrest was intended to facilitate extradition between EU members states as a response to the post 9/11 terror threat. With latest data suggesting that the bulk of extradition requests are for trivial offences, David Cronin in the Guardian argues that the system is "a shambles" that exacts a high human cost.