What Murielle spoke about.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Zambia has long emerged as one of the most stable multiparty democracies in southern Africa. Yet the general elections of 2026 raise serious concerns about respect for human rights and democratic space: Before, during and after the election, several opposition figures were arrested and even murdered. Amnesty International warns of arbitrary dete

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, talking about humanitarian aid is above all about human lives. This is talking about thousands of people who, for lack of resources, simply no longer have access to essential aid. In 2025, international humanitarian funding reached its lowest level in a decade: a situation that forces humanitarian actors to make impossible decisions – deciding who

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, speaking in this Chamber about the situation in Nigeria highlights the daily persecution and violence faced by civilians. Reducing the debate to religion, however, is proof that many here have not understood what is happening in this country, or that they do not want to understand it. Or they simply use these atrocities to serve their political age

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this is the third time in six months that an alarming discussion of the dramatic situation in Sudan has been on the agenda of this House. Each time, we denounce the massacres, the living and even survival conditions of displaced populations, millions of children at risk of starvation, women and girls exposed to sexual violence, and the tens of thou

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, drug trafficking is a major threat to our societies. It fuels violence, corrupts our economies and undermines the rule of law. In the face of criminal organisations operating on a global scale, our response must be European. But let's not get the fight wrong. Drug trafficking will not be combated by maintaining the confusion between migration and o

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, a free civil society is essential for any state. It acts as a safeguard against abuses of power and gives a voice to citizens. But in Burkina Faso, this voice is methodically silenced. In a few months, more than a hundred civil society organizations were dissolved, hundreds of associations suspended. Journalists and media are silenced, students

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the new Afghan Criminal Code enshrines gender apartheid, which has been in place since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. The hypocrisy of the European states, which denounce the appalling content of this penal code while discussing with the Taliban to ensure returns to this country, is purely scandalous. This penal code places less value on wo

Mr President, Commissioner McGrath, ladies and gentlemen, last March the European Parliament's position on the return regulation was adopted. While the Fundamental Rights Report reminds us that migrants' rights are already being targeted in the European Union, this new text marks an unprecedented hardening: end of the right to an effective remedy, creation of return hubs outside the Union or prolo

Madam President, I too would like to make a point, a point of order in the Rules of Procedure, under Rule 202 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. I would therefore like to make this point of order concerning the Rules of Procedure, the mandate for the Return Regulation. I can only deplore the fact that we are not having a discussion on the attitude of the EPP, which is u

Madam President, Commissioner, European Ombudsman, the Ombudsman's annual report should have been a consensus. We have negotiated at length to find compromises. Our S&D Group has played its full part in this effort to build a solid agreement between pro-European forces. But, at the decisive moment, the EPP chose another path, that of aligning itself with the extreme right. Two un

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the number of school-deprived children in the world could soon reach 278 million. This is an alarming figure, as we know that education, and especially in emergencies, is often the only gateway for children to essential services such as health, protection and nutrition. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that education is a funda

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, for over a year and a half, Joseph Figueira Martin, a Belgian-Portuguese aid worker, has been arbitrarily detained in the Central African Republic. He must be released. In May 2024, he was abducted by the Wagner Group. Since then, he has been tortured, threatened with death and kept in inhuman and degrading conditions. He did not have access to

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, here we are in this Chamber for yet another debate on migration. The title of this debate suggests that migration is out of control, which is a lie – a lie cleverly orchestrated by the right and far right. Currently, the number of irregular arrivals into the EU has never been lower since 2021. But this rhetoric keeps fear alive and justifies ever m

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the situation in Guinea-Bissau is extremely worrying; It calls for an immediate international response. Today, the priority is above all to protect the population. This population is very vulnerable, as Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world. There is no justification for the excessive use of force against civilians, and we d

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, last month we were already talking in this Chamber about the abduction of pupils in Nigeria. Here we are again today, when a new tragedy struck the country. I lack words to describe anger, misunderstanding, but also tiredness in the face of the repetition of these crimes, in the face of the disappearance of innocent children. Instead of threaten