The European Parliament on Thursday 8 October called on the Presidents of the European Council and the Commission and the Member States to reduce the EU’s “institutional and diplomatic representation” at the G20 leaders’ summit on 21 and 22 November, “so as not to legitimise impunity for human rights violations and illegal and arbitrary detentions in Saudi Arabia” (see EUROPE 12573/18).
The resolution adopted by the Greens/EFA, S&D and Renew Europe groups (413 votes in favour, 49 against and 233 abstentions, mainly from the EPP group) focuses primarily on the ill-treatment of Ethiopian migrants and violations of their fundamental rights, particularly in detention centres in Saudi Arabia. According to Human Rights Watch reports, about 30,000 Ethiopian migrants have been arbitrarily detained in the country since April in atrocious conditions after being forcibly expelled from northern Yemen by the Houthis.
MEPs, who condemn this mistreatment, call on the Saudi authorities to immediately release all detainees.
They also call for guarantees that there will be no mass deportations and that asylum claims will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and call on the Ethiopian government to facilitate the voluntary and dignified repatriation of all Ethiopian migrants “safely and as soon as possible”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)