EU Human Rights Policy at the UN – When Ideology Replaces Universal Values

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• The European Union’s Council Conclusions on EU Priorities in UN Human Rights Fora in 2025 identify key areas of EU human rights activities at UN fora and refers to several universal human rights, such as freedom from torture and freedom of religion or belief.​

• However, as part of this strategy, the EU seeks to strengthen so-called sexual and reproductive rights, which are meant to include unrestricted access to abortion and compulsory sex education according to standards developed by international organizations and their agencies, without the consensus of states.​

• The document also expands the concept of "gender equality" to include "gender identity."​

• A few days ago, this strategy was discussed at a meeting of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights.​

The EU’s Approach to Human Rights

For years, the European Union has portrayed itself as a global leader in the protection of human rights, indicating its commitment to promoting democracy, equality, and fundamental rights. The document Council Conclusions on EU Priorities in UN Human Rights Fora in 2025, adopted by the EU Council, identifies key areas in which the Union intends to take action on the international stage. Among the priorities for the coming year are both actions on general principles of human rights protection, as well as specific political and ideological assumptions, such as gender equality, so-called reproductive and sexual rights, or the "protection of LGBTI persons."​

Fundamental Human Rights and EU Priorities

The basis of the UN human rights protection system includes:​

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),​
• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),​
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),​
• Other conventions ratified by most countries of the world.​

One of the most important rights that underpin the international human rights protection system is the right to life.​

The right to life is unequivocally stated in Article 3 of the UDHR:​

"Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person."​

Similarly, Article 6 of the ICCPR states:​

"Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life."​

Despite this clear position of international law, the European Union, in its 2025 priority document, does not refer to the protection of the right to life but, on the contrary, focuses on the promotion of so-called sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Paragraph 40 of the document states:​

"The EU reaffirms its commitment to the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the right of every individual to have full control over, and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality and sexual and reproductive health, free from discrimination, coercion and violence. The EU further stresses the need for universal access to quality and affordable comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information, education, including comprehensive sexuality education, and health-care services."​

In practice, as per the EU’s usual understanding, this means an emphasis on providing universal access to abortion, and this is contrary to the international human rights system, as international law does not recognize abortion as a fundamental right.​

The Gender Agenda and the Redefinition of Equality

The document indicates in paragraph 33:​

"The EU will continue to strongly oppose and step up action to combat all forms of discrimination, with specific attention to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including on grounds of sex, race, ethnic or social origin, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, disability, age, sexual orientation and gender identity."​

This means that the EU intends to push for such provisions in resolutions of the Human Rights Council and other UN bodies that would require states to align their policies with the concept of "gender identity."​

Further, the same paragraph states:​

"The EU will reaffirm its strong commitment to respect, protect and fulfil the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by LGBTI persons and express its deep concern about the alarming rates of violence, discrimination and stigmatization, and about the criminalization of same-sex relations."​

Under the pretext of the right to "have full control over, and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality and sexual and reproductive health" the Union is pushing its pro-abortion agenda. The EU is advocating for the recognition of "comprehensive sexuality education" as an international standard, which is likely to be opposed by many countries that believe these issues should be left to families and sovereign national decisions.​ Especially since in other documents (including resolutions passed by the European Parliament) the EU understands such sex education to be in line with the highly controversial WHO Standards for Sexuality Education in Europe.

EU Policy and the Sovereignty of States

The Council Conclusions on EU Priorities in UN Human Rights Fora in 2025 also indicates the priority of EU cooperation with the UN Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and UN special procedures. The EU announces that it will actively promote the highest standards of human rights and oppose any attempts to undermine the international system for their protection. This includes a commitment to reforming the Human Rights Council and strengthening its intervention mechanisms.​

A key concern with the EU’s approach at UN fora, however, is that it presents politically and ideologically debatable issues as universal standards that should apply to all UN member states. This approach has sparked resistance from countries that stress their sovereign right to determine their internal policies. It undermines the UN’s authority, and it is in line with the financial blackmail used by the EU to impose the same ideologically loaded “universal” values on 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries through the Post-Cotonou (Samoa) Agreement.