Cuardaigh

'Auschwitz didn't appear from nowhere', remarked Marian Turski, Holocaust survivor and child prisoner in the Auschwitz death camp, in January 2020 at the solemn ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The former Auschwitz prisoner described the path from tiny hardships in everyday life and growing discrimination and persecution laws, to the genocide of Jews, the Holocaust. The consecutive stages of shrinking freedom can be summarised as 10 stages of genocide, in a process that could ...

Each year, International Migrants' Day is observed on 18 December. Designated by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 December 2000, in response to increasing migration around the world, the day aims to draw attention to migrants' human rights and highlight their contribution to our societies.

Recognising media freedom and freedom of expression as cornerstones of democracy, the European Union and the United States remain dedicated to protecting these freedoms at home and internationally. Their efforts to overcome threats to media freedom are particularly vital in the context of the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on 3 May 2023, at a time when media is facing mounting pressure globally.

On 2 April 2009, the European Parliament decided that 23 August each year should mark the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of All Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. With the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had divided Europe into spheres of interest. That agreement, with its secret protocols, preceded the German attack on Poland on 1 September 1939 and the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland, as well as the Soviet occupation and later annexation ...

Is 50 bliain ó shin i mbliana ó shínigh Éire agus an Danmhairg na conarthaí aontachais leis na Comhphobail Eorpacha a bhí ann roimhe seo. Ní bealach réidh chun ballraíochta a bhí roimh cheachtar den dá thír. Rinneadh an chéad dá iarratas i 1961 agus i 1967, in éineacht leis an Ríocht Aontaithe, iarratais ar chuir an Fhrainc ina gcoinne, rud is amhlaidh a chur bac orthu. Nuair a athraíodh an rialtais sa Fhrainc, d’athdhearbhaigh na sé Bhallstát de na Comhphobail Eorpacha a gcomhaontú le méadú na gComhphobal ...

Andrey Sakharov was a Soviet physicist who played a leading role in his country's nuclear weapons programme. However, in the 1960s he fell out of favour with the regime due to his activism for disarmament and human rights. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, Sakharov's legacy is more relevant than ever. Since 1988, the European Parliament has awarded an annual prize for freedom of thought named after him.

The December plenary session highlights included the election of the European Ombudsman; commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights becoming legally binding; and the award of the 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Parliament adopted positions on the rule of law in Malta, following the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and on public discrimination and hate speech against LGBTI people, including LGBTI-free zones. It also debated statements ...

The November I plenary session highlights included statements and debates on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and on the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Parliament also debated statements made by the Vice-President of the European Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) on Turkish drilling activities in European Union waters in the Eastern Mediterranean, and on the situation in ...

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the first international treaty to recognise children as human beings with innate rights. Since 1989, conditions for children have improved, but millions remain unprotected. This is an updated and expanded version of an 'at a glance' note from 2014.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, set in motion by the events of 9 November 1989, which led to Germany’s full reunification within less than a year. The accession of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to the Federal Republic of Germany (Federal Republic) completed the reunification process on 3 October 1990. Moreover, with the accession of the former GDR to the Federal Republic, the GDR integrated into the European Economic Community (EEC) of the time via a special ...