The European Union and India held their 12th Human Rights Dialogue in New Delhi on 24 June 2026, co-chaired by Indian Additional Secretary (Europe West) Piyush Srivastava and EU Ambassador to India Hervé Delphin. The two sides welcomed the discussions as meaningful, free and frank, and concurred on the value of the dialogue's regularity. They outlined their approaches, achievements, and challenges in advancing all human rights, and exchanged views on developments since the last dialogue in January 2025.
The dialogue recalled the 16th EU-India Summit in January 2026 in New Delhi, where leaders committed to raising the Strategic Partnership to a higher level based on shared values including democracy, human rights, pluralism, rule of law, and the rules-based international order with the UN at its core. The EU and India reiterated their commitment to promoting and protecting all human rights, emphasising universality, indivisibility and interrelatedness, as major democracies, open market economies, diverse societies, and home to nearly one fourth of the world population.
Discussions covered civil and political rights; social, economic, and cultural rights; elimination of discrimination; rights of migrants; freedom of religion or belief; freedom of expression and opinion both online and offline; gender, LGBTQI+ and child rights. Both sides reiterated their commitment to developing trustworthy, sustainable, human-centric AI, as conveyed during the AI Impact Summit 2026 hosted by India. They also discussed increased cooperation on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and updated each other on implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The EU and India recognised the importance of strengthening cooperation with national and international human rights institutions and mechanisms, and concurred on safeguarding the freedom, independence and diversity of civil society actors, journalists, and respecting freedom of association and peaceful assembly. The EU reiterated its opposition to capital punishment in all cases and without exception. India reiterated its stand on recognition of the Right to Development as a distinct, universal, inalienable and fundamental human right.
Both sides reiterated their commitment to continue engaging on human rights bilaterally and multilaterally, including through the regular dialogue and on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. They exchanged on concrete avenues for consultation and cooperation at the multilateral level. Both looked forward to the next Human Rights Dialogue in 2027.