The European Union (EU) — African Union (AU) Human Rights Dialogue successfully concluded in Brussels, Belgium, on 7 October 2025, with civil society from both Africa and Europe playing an integral role in the deliberations. The Secretary General of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), Omar Faruk Osman, in his capacity as the current Co-Chair of the AU-EU Civil Society Steering Committee on Human Rights and Democratic Governance, addressed the joint session of the two continental organisations. He was joined by his European co-chair, Lionel Grassy of the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT), in delivering the civil society briefing.
The Inter-Continental Human Rights Dialogue was co-chaired on the AU side by H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security of the African Union Commission (AUC), and on the EU side by H.E. Kajsa Ollongren, European Union Special Representative for Human Rights (EUSR). Institutions and organisations from both the AU and the EU, responsible for various human rights portfolios, including pan-African and pan-European human rights institutions, were in attendance.
The civil society briefing focused on urgent human rights challenges confronting both continents, including a shrinking space for civic engagement, severe funding cuts affecting civil society organisations (CSOs) and human rights defenders (HRDs), growing disinformation/misinformation and smear campaigns against activists, the weakening of international and regional human rights institutions and the rise of authoritarian practices such as the criminalisation of protests, restrictions on freedom of expression, excessive policing and internet shutdowns.
In his intervention, NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman presented the key challenges and recommendations to both the EU and AU. He stressed the importance of protecting human rights defenders, giving ongoing financial and legal help to civil society organisations, strengthening the independence and effectiveness of bodies like the United Nations Human Rights Council and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ensuring media independence and confirming that human rights are universal and interconnected, which is essential for the AU-EU partnership.
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Ahead of the start of the official Dialogue, H.E. Kajsa Ollongren, EU Special Representative for Human Rights, received Omar Faruk Osman and Lionel Grassy for an exchange on the pressing human rights issues affecting civil society in both Africa and Europe and to discuss how the EU can ensure meaningful civil society involvement in the AU-EU partnership on human rights and democratic governance.
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“Civil society’s engagement is indispensable to strengthening democratic governance, protecting vulnerable groups, upholding the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly and ensuring accountability within this enduring AU-EU partnership,” said Omar Faruk Osman. He also emphasised that, given the current global human rights issues and threats to civic freedoms, the AU-EU partnership is now more crucial than ever as a worldwide champion of rights, demonstrating a renewed commitment to collaborating with and safeguarding civil society in both Africa and Europe.