Yesterday in Washington, Senior Bureau Official for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Robert Gilchrist and EU Special Representative for Human Rights Olof Skoog co-chaired the 2024 U.S.-EU Human Rights Consultations. The United States and EU reiterated their unwavering commitment to the transatlantic partnership and its importance to upholding and advancing human rights, democracy, and the rule of law globally.

The consultations covered a broad range of thematic issues including the protection of human rights defenders, efforts to counter transnational repression, technology and human rights, advancing gender equality and women’s rights, the rights of persons with disabilities, the rights of LGBTQI+ persons, and the importance of condemning and eliminating racism, discrimination, xenophobia, and other forms of hatred. The discussions also covered human rights issues and developments in Europe and the United States, the human rights situation in several third countries, across all regions, and U.S.-EU cooperation in multilateral fora, including at the United Nations.

The United States and EU agreed to continue to strengthen their cooperation to promote and protect human rights, democracy, and the rule of law worldwide.