Click to expand Image EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting in New Delhi, April 25, 2022. © 2022 Press Information Bureau via AP Photo On February 27 and 28, 2025, European Union commissioners will conduct an “unprecedented visit” to India, seeking to “upgrade the strategic partnership” and strengthen bilateral trade, economic, technology, and security ties. In a letter sent ahead of the visit, 12 human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, urged EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the other visiting commissioners to break the EU’s prolonged silence on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s crackdown on human rights, and to make it clear that progress on bilateral relations depends on tangible rights progress. The organizations urged the commissioners to press Indian authorities to release unjustly imprisoned human rights defenders and peaceful critics of the government, amend or repeal abusive legislation that severely curtails freedom of expression and association, and end discriminatory and abusive policies and practices against religious minorities. At a recent hearing of the European Parliament, members from across the political spectrum echoed this call for a more vocal approach.The EU also has its grave human rights problems. The rule of law is on the decline in a number of EU countries, while racial and religious discrimination, xenophobia, and intolerance are on the rise. The bloc’s foreign policy is increasingly marred by support for abusive governments to stop migration at any cost and by egregious double standards on atrocity crimes and other serious violations of international law. Indian authorities should raise these concerns with their EU counterparts and urge measures to address them.A principled and constructive relationship between the EU and India should embrace, not reject, mutual scrutiny and criticism. Yet the EU has maintained its silence for fear of a backlash from an increasingly authoritarian ally. This only encourages impunity, which in turn fuels further abuses. With serious human rights challenges around the world, the EU should not only reverse its faltering commitments, but publicly call on India to ensure that its institutions adequately address the escalating rights violations at home while joining efforts to protect rights abroad.Sidelining human rights in meetings and in the new EU-India strategic agenda would be anything but strategic and undermine the prospects for a solid, healthy, and genuine rights-based partnership.