Amnesty slams EU's Lithuanian presidency for neglecting human rights issues

Amnesty International Tuesday criticised current holder of EU Presidnecy, Lthuania, for failing to place human rights at the centre of its migration policy and for not addressing EU involvement in CIA renditions and secret detention centres. "Victims of CIA renditions in Europe deserve justice. We are profoundly disappointed by Lithuania's refusal to reopen investigations into secret CIA detention centres on its own soil, even in the light of the new case of Mustafa Al-Hawsawi," said Nicolas Beger, Director of Amnesty International's European Institutions Office in a statement on the mid-term review of Lithuania's EU presidency. If the EU is to uphold its role as a credible human rights body, it must actively address these issues, he stressed. "It is shameful that the EU's six million Roma still face systematic discrimination, and are often targets of racially motivated violence," said Beger. He also criticsed the EU presidency's failure to take concrete action to protect migrants' rights and lives at Europes borders. "Events like the recent Lampedusa tragedy reveal the human cost of Europe's inadequate migration policies. We are deeply alarmed that no concrete steps have yet been taken to prevent the hundreds of men, women and children seeking a safe life in Europe from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea," he added