As EU citizens we want to live in a Union that truly embodies the values we defend and believe in. Across the world, countless lives are affected by human rights violations, and we expect our Union to uphold human rights firmly and fairly, everywhere and for everyone. But what if there is differential treatment of human rights violations?

In practice, the EU’s current approach to human rights suffers from double standards: it is incoherent, fragmented, and inconsistently applied across partner countries. As the EU acts differently depending on the country, this leads to uneven responses that weaken the universal nature of human rights.

This initiative calls on the European Commission to propose a regulation that establishes a standardised oversight of human rights across its areas of competence in its external action with third countries. The regulation should ensure that the Commission monitors, evaluates, and responds to human rights violations in a manner that is transparent, consistent, effective, proportionate and timely.

We propose a legal framework allowing the EU to improve its approach to human rights and reinforce its credibility in the world by better safeguarding international human rights law. Join us in calling for no more double standards on human rights!