Language
European Parliament
Every sitting is free to watch on Polyfact, live and on replay, no account needed.
Latest update 6 days ago
What is said in the sittings, update by update, the latest first. Each update opens the video at the second it was said.
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
The Chair summarizes the need to front-load democracy and rule-of-law standards in enlargement, announces the timeline for DROI’s opinion letter within AFET and LIBE procedures, and formally closes the meeting.
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
ENNHRI and civil society speakers from Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia and Montenegro stress that EU success should be measured by real independence and responsiveness of institutions, describe protest movements and media capture, and call for EU support against disinformation and for reforms that truly serve citizens rather than performative compliance.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
Rapporteurs and MEPs debate Serbia’s stagnation, Montenegro’s frontrunner status, and broader concerns over double standards and violent repression in Albania, while stressing that enlargement must remain merit-based and criteria-driven; the Commission details how the Rule of Law Report complements enlargement reports and anchors candidate countries in a common Article 2 values framework.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
Country experts outline key rule-of-law deficits and progress: Albania’s strategic investment law, corruption and Flamingo protests; Serbia’s fragile transition and need for institutional reform; North Macedonia’s weak, politicized justice system; and Montenegro’s recent reform momentum that still needs to be consolidated institutionally.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
The Chair launches the enlargement-focused rule of law session as an input to LIBE and AFET, while ENNHRI explains the role, status and resource gaps of national human rights institutions in candidate countries and urges the EU to use robust, independent NHRIs as explicit accession benchmarks.
In this chapter
The Chair opens the final agenda item on extending the Commission’s rule‑of‑law reporting to candidate countries and outlines DROI’s planned opinion on aligning internal rule‑of‑law assessments with the enlargement package, introducing external experts to discuss monitoring mechanisms.
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
The Chair and MEPs review the DROI mission to Indonesia and ASEAN, debate how strongly to press human rights (including West Papua and LGBTQI+ issues) in trade and political relations, and confront differing views on EU tone, conditionality and engagement with government counterparts.
In this chapter
Report‑back on the Indonesia–ASEAN mission highlighting civic space, minority rights and ICC advocacy, with MEPs pressing for stronger parliamentary cooperation and HRD protection and debating the delegation’s tone and tactics, including on LGBTQI+ rights and meetings with government officials.
In this chapter
MEPs question experts on vague terrorism definitions, restrictions on free expression, CT misuse against activists in Europe and Turkey, and the EU’s concrete conditionality and accountability tools, followed by expert replies on legal tests, remedies, sanctions, and coherence, and the formal closing of the workshop.
In this chapter
Opening of the DROI workshop, presentation of the commissioned study, and initial expert statements from the UN Special Rapporteur, FIDH and EEAS on global misuse of counter‑terrorism frameworks and the EU’s human‑rights‑based approach.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
UN, Commission, UNHCR and Amnesty reiterate the absolute nature of non-refoulement, deny any formal return agreement or aid to the Taliban, stress specific risks for Afghan women and marginalised groups, and Chair Satouri closes by rejecting the political wisdom and symbolism of hosting Taliban representatives in Brussels.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
Amnesty International denounces EU–Taliban return talks as incompatible with non-refoulement, MEPs dispute family guarantees, aid channels and crime-based narratives, and the EEAS defends limited operational engagement within a non-recognition framework while acknowledging the gravity of the human rights and humanitarian crises.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
The UN Special Rapporteur and UNHCR present the human rights situation in Afghanistan, emphasize gender persecution, non-refoulement obligations even for serious offenders, outline large-scale returns from neighbouring countries, and warn of severe protection, reintegration and funding gaps that make safe returns and internal flight alternatives untenable.
In this chapter
Johannes Fechner Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
DG HOME explains why member state concerns over returning Afghans convicted of serious crimes led to engagement with the de facto Taliban authorities, summarises discussions on treatment of returnees and assurances received, clarifies that this does not imply recognition, and details the technical Brussels meeting on identification, sentencing, transport and consular issues, including member state competence for accreditation and civil documentation.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
Chair Satouri frames the hearing on EU–Taliban return talks, the Commission details member state demands, Kabul and Brussels meetings, legal constraints and non-recognition, and the Afghanistan delegation chair sets out a strong political and legal critique focused on non-refoulement and EU venue choices.
In this chapter
The Chair closes the Horn of Africa segment linking it to the forthcoming AFET report, then opens a joint exchange on returns to Afghanistan, outlining the June 23rd meeting on returns of Afghans deemed security risks, unanswered operational and legal questions, and the broader context of large-scale forced returns from Iran and Pakistan.
In this chapter
Experts from Human Rights Watch and Legal Action Worldwide, followed by the EEAS, propose concrete EU measures including potential civilian protection options in Sudan, targeted sanctions and trade reviews (notably regarding the UAE), reinforced UN and ICC engagement on Sudan and Ethiopia, prioritisation of atrocity prosecutions in EU states, and intensified EU diplomacy to de-escalate regional conflicts.
In this chapter
Rapporteur Temido and MEPs Assis, Vieira and Hassan question the experts and EEAS on renewed conflict and impunity in Ethiopia, prospects for peace in Sudan, pathways from documentation to prosecutions, the impact of EU trade and cooperation with actors such as the UAE, and concrete EU legal mechanisms to tackle both direct perpetrators and external facilitators.
In this chapter
The EEAS sets out the EU’s political stance on Sudan, sanctions frameworks and justice tools, support to international investigative mechanisms, and describes EU-funded survivor-centred programmes, humanitarian allocations and initiatives to ensure women’s participation in any future transition.
In this chapter
Human Rights Watch and Legal Action Worldwide present detailed evidence on the conflicts in Sudan and Ethiopia, including widespread sexual violence, ethnic cleansing, external support to armed groups, and entrenched impunity, while outlining survivor needs, justice gaps, and ongoing accountability initiatives across Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.
In this chapter
The Chair opens the meeting, adopts the agenda and minutes, recalls recent EP emergency resolutions, condemns media crackdowns, and formally frames the public hearing on human rights and conflict-related gender-based violence in the Horn of Africa, outlining links to EP Gender Equality Week and the Sudan resolution.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Extraordinary meeting
Analysis of Russian independent media in exile and Europe’s past choices, followed by MEPs’ political reactions on accountability, support for Ukraine and Russian civil society, and closing remarks from guests and the Chair on concrete follow-up and Parliament’s continued work on journalists’ protection.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Extraordinary meeting
Personal and institutional testimonies on Politkovskaya’s work in Chechnya, systemic impunity and the escalation of repression inside Russia, including calls for EU humanitarian visas, data from the UN Special Rapporteur’s mandate, a stronger EU response to transnational repression and the announcement of the 2026 Anna Politkovskaya Award.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Extraordinary meeting
Formal opening of the joint homage with the Russia delegation, institutional framing of Politkovskaya’s legacy and today’s Russian context, and presentation of invited speakers representing her family, the UN and independent Russian media.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Extraordinary meeting
Opening of the extraordinary DROI meeting, presentation of the draft Annual Human Rights and Democracy report, political lines from rapporteur and shadows, and clarification of committee mandate, amendment deadline and subsequent AFET and plenary steps.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
MEPs raise further questions on conditionality, Islamophobia, EU secularism, specific cases like Pakistan and Turkey, and possible treaty changes, prompting detailed responses from Levrat and Foret on corruption, EU double standards and multidimensional discrimination, before McGuinness and the Chair close with reflections on Parliament’s role, available EU instruments, and planned follow-up on FORB and religious-minority persecution.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
UN Special Rapporteur Levrat outlines his mandate, structural discrimination through state religions, conversion and blasphemy laws, and EU credibility challenges, while academic expert Foret analyses EU FORB guidelines, geopolitical context, soft power, the limits of persecution rankings and the complex intersection of religion with other forms of discrimination.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
The Chair defines speaking-time rules and McGuinness’s role in the debate, followed by coordinators’ and Members’ questions on persecuted Christians, conditionality and metrics for aid, country-specific concerns such as India, Nigeria, Belarus and Turkey, and McGuinness’s replies on mandate limits, country focus, engagement tools and equal protection of all beliefs and non-belief.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
The Chair opens the DROI hearing on persecution of religious minorities, sets the objectives and format, and the EU Special Envoy McGuinness presents her mandate, global diagnosis of FORB deterioration, root causes, human-rights-based approach and planned working methods with local and institutional partners.
In this chapter
Subcommittee on Human Rights Ordinary meeting
The Commission and EEAS defend engagement with Egypt as a strategic partner while outlining human‑rights tools and migration support, MEPs weigh stability arguments against the need for clear conditionality and possible urgency resolutions, and the Chair’s closing stresses protection of remaining civic space and media, scrutiny of Egypt’s economic model and the linkage between EU support and meaningful reforms.
In this chapter
The search covers the sittings held more than two weeks ago. A Polyfact subscription searches every sitting as soon as it is transcribed.
European Parliament broadcasts the sittings of the Committee on Human Rights (DROI). Polyfact shows each one live, keeps it as a replay with its transcript and links its key moments to the second they were said.
50 sittings on Polyfact since 14 May 2025
Polyfact records and transcribes the sittings and committee hearings of European Union's parliaments. A speaker is named only once their identity is confirmed, by the official record or by a person; automatic guesses are left out.
On Polyfact, free and without an account: a sitting on air is marked live in the schedule above, and each sitting stays available as a replay.
Yes. Watching the sittings on Polyfact is free and needs no account. A Polyfact subscription, which you can try for free, adds the full transcripts as soon as they are ready, search across every sitting and alerts on your topics.
On each sitting's page on Polyfact, speaker by speaker, with its key moments one click from the second they were said. The search on this page covers the sittings held more than two weeks ago.
With a Polyfact plan you read every sitting as soon as it is transcribed, ask questions to the video assistant and get an alert as soon as your topics come up.
14-day free trial. A card is required, nothing is charged for 14 days, and you can cancel anytime.
Updated
'%20d='m0%200%2016%2011h61%2061%2061%2061%2060L47%2037h61%2061%2060%2061L16%2063h61%2061%2061%2061%2060L47%2089h61%2061%2060%2061L16%20115h61%2061%2061%2061%2060L47%20141h61%2061%2060%2061L16%20166h61%2061%2061%2061%2060L47%20192h61%2061%2060%2061L16%20218h61%2061%2061%2061%2060z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
