The EU is founded on respect for human rights, and collectively promotes our human rights as well as those of people living outside the EU. In addition to supporting individuals and the global human rights system, the EU is addressing the new challenges to human rights stemming from technological advances, global warming and geopolitical change.

What can the EU do?

An economic and political bloc, the EU is founded on respect for human rights, human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law. Respect for these core values and principles is a condition for EU membership. EU countries that persistently violate them can have sanctions imposed on them. The EU and its member countries have also committed to use their collective diplomatic strength and trade policy leverage to uphold human rights in internal and foreign policy, including in trade agreements and development cooperation. EU governments must respect EU fundamental rights when implementing EU law. However, as the EU Treaties do not explicitly provide a list of human rights, the EU Court of Justice, through court cases and the resulting case law, protects and expands rights (such as the freedom of opinion) and the general principles of law (such as the rule of law).

What has the EU done so far?

Drawing on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the EU has developed a framework for protecting fundamental rights within the Union and in the wider world. An action plan on human rights and democracy, agreed by all 27 EU governments, underpins all EU external action – its work in and with non‑EU countries. Current priorities include protecting and supporting individuals, providing support for the democratic political process worldwide, and tackling threats to human rights from climate change and new technologies, including artificial intelligence. The latest EU action plan also introduced new tools, such as a human rights sanctions system that can be used against those responsible for serious human rights violations anywhere in the world. In 2023, human rights sanctions such as asset freezes and travel bans applied to 61 individuals and 20 entities.

The EU is also developing specific strategies on women's rights, minority rights and children's rights. When the EU sends a group of representatives to non-EU countries, they include officials working on human rights. They visit prisoners, observe trials, meet with local non-governmental organisations and support human rights defenders, operating an emergency grants system for them and sometimes removing them from danger. Assessments from these EU delegations feed into an annual report on human rights and democracy in the world. This work on the ground also informs the work the EU does as a member of international organisations like the United Nations (UN), as well as in the high-level human rights dialogues it holds with many partner countries. Forty such human rights dialogues and consultations took place in 2022. In addition, the EU carries out frequent election observation missions across the world, sending experts to polling stations, to assess the electoral process and provide recommendations to local authorities. In 2023, the EU observed elections in Nigeria (February), Paraguay (April), Zambia (August), and the Maldives (September), among others.

The EU is also integrating human rights into its economic policy. The EU promotes the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and is also legislating to ensure that large EU‑based companies, and foreign companies with a significant presence in EU markets, identify, prevent and end their own operations with negative human rights and environmental impacts. Future EU legislation will ban products made using forced labour from the EU market and ensure that human rights are taken into account when critical raw materials vital to the transition to a green economy (such as lithium for batteries) are accepted for use in the EU. The new generation of free trade agreements and economic partnerships between the EU and partner countries will include stronger human rights protections.

What are the next challenges?

The Union must face the significant challenge of defending human rights in a changing geopolitical landscape, where the principles of human rights and multilateralism are increasingly questioned, where authoritarian powers are becoming more economically powerful and where artificial intelligence poses new challenges for humanity.