FIACAT: In September-October 2025, ahead of the AU-EU human rights dialogue on 7 October, twenty civil society experts convened to discuss the current far-reaching and unprecedented changes taking place in the global human rights landscape and what meaningful actions the two institutions, their member states and their partnership can take to effectively promote and protect human rights in this context.
Our organizations acknowledge the importance of the EU-AU human rights dialogue as an essential space for civil society working on democracy and human rights on both continents as well as the potential of the AU-EU partnership to positively shape national human rights agendas, policies and practices in Europe and in Africa.
As the EU and AU meets for a summit on 24-25 November, civil society space is shrinking and under attack by states on both continents, even as related challenges proliferate, from rising authoritarian practices to conflict and insecurity to new digital opportunities and risks.
Our organizations notice worrying trends in both regions in terms of the policing of protests and criminalization of activism and status, showing a disjunction between law and practice. Governments increasingly treat assemblies as security problems rather than civic expression, deploying heavy-handed tactics and modernized less-lethal technologies that inflict severe harm. Despite regional courts finding such practices unconstitutional or amounting to torture, domestic investigations are rarely initiated and where initiated, there is outright contempt of court decisions.
