The European Union is undermining its fundamental values and democracy by relegating human rights to second place. This is the conclusion drawn by Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2026, published on Wednesday 4 February.
The NGO condemns a combination of over-emphasis on deterring migration, the normalisation of sexist, xenophobic and anti-democratic discourse, inconsistent application of the Rule of law, less emphasis on civil society and a supposed double standard in foreign policy.
In particular, the organisation points the finger at the regulation on ‘returns’ (see EUROPE 13767/14), which it perceives as a lack of action by the EU Council in the face of repeated breaches of the Rule of law in Hungary - recalling that in 2025 Hungary withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and welcomed the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant.
The growing influence of the far right and a diplomacy that gives priority to security and trade over fundamental rights are also singled out in the report, which includes individual chapters on France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Spain.
The report: https://aeur.eu/f/kl7 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)