Dozens of lawmakers of the European Parliament have called on the European Union (EU) to downgrade its presence at the next month’s G20 summit in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh over human rights concerns, a document says.

Sixty-five European legislators, in a joint letter, asked Brussels on Monday to downgrade its attendance in the 2020 G20 Riyadh summit, which is set for November 21 and 22 and will be held virtually due to fears over the spreading coronavirus, a joint letter by the lawmakers seen by AFP said.

According to Press TV, the letter came after a wide-ranging resolution passed earlier this month that also called for the downgrade to “avoid legitimizing impunity for human rights violations” in Saudi Arabia, which assumed the G20 Presidency late last year.

“We should not legitimize a government committing egregious human rights violations as host of one of the most important summit meetings in the world,” said the letter.

The letter called on Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, not to participate in the virtual summit.

“We ask you to re-evaluate your participation in this year’s G20 summit and consider not attending, but instead downgrading the level of the European Union participation to a senior official level.”