Sous-commission Droits de l'homme (DROI) - Parlement européen

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Les députés des commissions des affaires étrangères et du développement ont voté jeudi matin pour les trois finalistes du Prix Sakharov 2025 pour la liberté de l’esprit.
Commission des affaires étrangères
Commission du développement
Sous-commission "Droits de l'homme"

Source : © Union européenne, 2025 - PE

On 20 October 2025 (19:00–20:30), DROI and JURI will jointly hold an extraordinary meeting on the protection of lawyers worldwide, with a focus on the recently adopted Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer. Speakers include representatives of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, as well as a testimony by Ramla Dahmani on Tunisian lawyer Sonia Dahmani.

The exchange will centre on the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer, adopted on 12 March 2025 and open to all States. As the first international treaty dedicated to safeguarding the legal profession, it addresses admission to practice, professional rights and duties, freedom of expression, disciplinary guarantees and specific protective measures for lawyers and their associations.

Against reports of harassment, threats and interference with defence work, including obstacles to client access, the discussion will explore how the Convention can strengthen rule-of-law safeguards and support implementation. The meeting forms part of the European Week of Justice (around 25 October) and will include a testimony by Ramla Dahmani, sister of Tunisian lawyer Sonia Dahmani, detained since July 2024.
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The next extraordinary meeting of the Subcommittee on Human Rights is scheduled to take place on 20 October (19:00-20:30).Meeting room: WEISS N1.3 (Strasbourg)
DROI meetings - 2025
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Durée de la vidéo : 150'

Clause de non-responsabilité : L'interprétation des débats facilite la communication mais ne constitue en aucun cas un enregistrement authentifié des débats. Seuls le discours original ou la traduction écrite révisée du discours original peuvent être considérés authentiques.
Source : © Union européenne, 2025 - PE

A surge in autocratic governance has become increasingly threatening to global politics, having gathered momentum over the past two decades. This autocratic wave continues to evolve, becoming ever more complex and diverse as it unfolds. Hence, the shifting dynamics driving this wave need to be fully understood and disaggregated if the European Union (EU) is to design effective responses. Democratic strategy needs not only to hold at bay severe repression, but also to engage with the ideas and narratives that underpin autocracy’s apparent appeal. Accordingly, this paper draws on historical and contemporary writings that present various arguments against democracy. After unpacking the different components of this autocratic wave, EU responses over recent years are assessed, looking at how these relate to pro-authoritarian narratives. It finds that the EU has improved many elements of its policies during this time but still needs to tailor its strategies to the ideational aspects of anti-democratic trends.
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Arbitrary detention of EU citizens Javier Marañón Montero and David Rodríguez Ballesta in Equatorial Guinea
Humanitarian and security situation in Haiti, in particular the rising power of criminal gangs and the recent massacre in Cabaret
10th anniversary of the detention of jailed Swedish publisher Gui Minhai in China
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

On the occasion of the upcoming World Food Day DROI welcomes on 13th October an exchange of views on the Right to Food. The Right to food is a basic human right. It aims to guarantee everyone's access to sufficient, accessible and appropriate food and ensure that no one, nowhere, should ever suffer from hunger, food insecurity or malnutrition. It is a matter of justice and respect for human rights.
This exchange of views aims to put forward possible strategies elaborated at EU level to preserve et protect the right to food and the right of peasants worldwide.

The UN Special Representative on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri - who will participate remotely - will present us the latest developments and most topical issues linking right to food and human rights in a challenging global context. Geneviève Savigny, member of the UN working Group on the Right of Peasant and Vincent Delobel, farmer and representative of Via Campesina will also participate in the exchange to raise the violations of rights faced by peasants, such as limited access to land, adequate food and markets.
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

At its meeting on 13 October the Subcommittee on Human Rights will be hosting an exchange of views on the International Day to End Impunity against Journalists

Established by the UN General Assembly and commemorated on 2 November, the International Day to End Impunity against Journalist serves as an opportunity to reflect on the increasingly precarious environment that journalists have to operate in so that they can shine a light on facts and speak truth to power. At DROI meeting MEPs will have the opportunity to hear personal testimonies from journalists operating in dire conditions, representatives of civil society as well as international institutions who will provide the Subcommittee on the urgent need to comprehensively address crimes committed against journalisms and to reinforce our tools and processes for holding the perpetrators of such heinous crimes accountable.

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Source : © Union européenne, 2025 - PE

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

On 23 September, the Committees on Foreign Affairs and on Development, together with the Subcommittee on Human Rights, presented the candidates for this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, one of the most important events of the European Parliament. On 16 October, the AFET and DEVE committees will meet again to narrow down the list of nominees to a three-candidate shortlist, via a secret vote.
Each year the Sakharov Prize reaffirms the European Parliament's unwavering commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights, a founding principle of the European Union. The winning 2025 laureate(s) will be announced on 22 October by the Conference of Presidents (EP President and political group leaders) and an exchange of views with the laureate(s) will take place in a joint Committee meeting on 15 December. The Prize will be presented to the laureate(s) at an award ceremony during the December plenary, on 16 December.
Sakharov Prize website
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Durée de la vidéo : 150'

Clause de non-responsabilité : L'interprétation des débats facilite la communication mais ne constitue en aucun cas un enregistrement authentifié des débats. Seuls le discours original ou la traduction écrite révisée du discours original peuvent être considérés authentiques.
Source : © Union européenne, 2025 - PE

Durée de la vidéo : 90'

Clause de non-responsabilité : L'interprétation des débats facilite la communication mais ne constitue en aucun cas un enregistrement authentifié des débats. Seuls le discours original ou la traduction écrite révisée du discours original peuvent être considérés authentiques.
Source : © Union européenne, 2025 - PE

Five members of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) were in Bangladesh from 16 to 18 September 2025. The mission took place at a pivotal moment in Bangladesh’s democratic transition following the July protests of 2024, which led to the fall of Seikh’s Hassina’s administration. Elections are scheduled to take place in February 2026.

The mission also came at a crucial moment for EU-Bangladesh relations amidst the ongoing negotiations for a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and the dispatching of an exploratory mission to assess the deployment of an EU Election Observation Mission in the upcoming general elections.

The Members met with government officials, representatives of civil society, Bangladeshi youth and international organisations. Additionally, the DROI delegation visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar at a critical juncture for the international organisations that are operating on the ground, as the recent decision of the US administration to proceed with major cuts in USAID has significantly diminished the ability of these organisations to continue delivering essential resources, including food, and services to the refugees residing in the camps.

Press release
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Durée de la vidéo : 120'

Clause de non-responsabilité : L'interprétation des débats facilite la communication mais ne constitue en aucun cas un enregistrement authentifié des débats. Seuls le discours original ou la traduction écrite révisée du discours original peuvent être considérés authentiques.
Source : © Union européenne, 2025 - PE

Durée de la vidéo : 105'

Clause de non-responsabilité : L'interprétation des débats facilite la communication mais ne constitue en aucun cas un enregistrement authentifié des débats. Seuls le discours original ou la traduction écrite révisée du discours original peuvent être considérés authentiques.
Source : © Union européenne, 2025 - PE

Durée de la vidéo : 105'

Clause de non-responsabilité : L'interprétation des débats facilite la communication mais ne constitue en aucun cas un enregistrement authentifié des débats. Seuls le discours original ou la traduction écrite révisée du discours original peuvent être considérés authentiques.
Source : © Union européenne, 2025 - PE

The nominees for this year’s Prize were presented by the political groups in a joint meeting of the Committees on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and on Development (DEVE) and the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) in Brussels on 23 September. Each year, the Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to honour exceptional individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.
In 2024, the Prize was awarded to María Corina Machado, leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela, and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia.

The AFET and DEVE Committees will vote on a shortlist of three finalists on 16 October and the Conference of Presidents will take a decision on the final laureate on 22 October.
Sakharov Prize - Presentation of the nominees - Webstreaming link
Sakharov Prize website
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The next ordinary meeting of the Subcommittee on Human Rights is scheduled to take place on 24 September (9:00-12:30 and 15:00-18:30) and 25 September 2025 (9:00-11:30).
Meeting room: SPAAK 5B001 (Brussels)
DROI meetings - 2025
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP