EU migration policies have contributed to deaths, torture, and abuse. EU states have failed to tackle attacks on and structural discrimination against members of marginalized communities. The EU has failed to act in the face of growing curbs on rule of law and civil society by member states and has exhibited double standards in its foreign policy.
Amid an increase in people arriving at its borders, the EU and its member states doubled down on repressive deterrence measures and alliances with abusive countries. More than 2,500 people died at sea while trying to reach the EU, highlighting the deadly consequences of the EU’s approach to boat migration.
EU member states, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, and Latvia, engaged in unlawful pushbacks at external borders. Malta and Italy facilitated interceptions at sea by Libyan forces, while EU institutions deepened complicity in abuses, including torture, against migrants and refugees returned to Libya. Italy signed an agreement with Albania to detain people rescued at sea by Italian ships, including asylum seekers, in Albania.
Concerns over declining democratic freedoms and shrinking civil society space persisted in the EU. Hungary and Poland continued to face scrutiny under article 7 of the Treaty on European Union for their governments’ disregard for EU values. However, despite pressure from the European Parliament and civil society, EU member states refrained from taking decisive action against the two. While October elections results in Poland offer prospects for reform, EU engagement remains vital until a new government delivers change, Human Rights Watch said.
EU institutions failed to respond sufficiently to the worrying trend of EU member states beyond Hungary and Poland imposing unjustified restrictions on civil society, including Greece, France, and Italy. Instead, legislative initiatives at the EU level, such as the “Defence of Democracy Package,” raised further concerns over potential stigmatization and chilling effects on civil society at home and abroad.
Following the Hamas-led attack in Israel on October 7 and subsequent hostilities in Gaza, antisemitism and Islamophobia increased in Europe. Yet EU member states’ reactions were inadequate, with some imposing further discriminatory and abusive measures towards people identifying or perceived as Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim, including pushes for stricter immigration policies.
EU data from June shows that 95.3 million people – 21.6 percent of the population – were “at risk of poverty or social exclusion” during 2022, making it harder for them to enjoy their rights. The high inflation rates of the previous year fell during 2023 and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis softened, partly as a result of governmental mitigation measures. A European Commission report also highlighted obstacles for marginalized groups to access public services essential to realizing their rights, including for homeless people, Roma, people with disabilities and single-parent – primarily women-led – households.
The EU’s deal with Tunisia, pledging financial support in exchange for migration cooperation despite serious risks to refugees and asylum seekers, exemplified its increasingly transactional diplomacy, leading to silence or support for abusive governments in the vain hope of short-term gains. The EU played a leading role on key resolutions at the United Nations Human Rights Council but failed to insist on the renewal of scrutiny of Libya or to support any follow-up to a damning inquiry on Ethiopia.