Open Letter to the European Union

An open letter from a coalition of movements, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society organizations urging the European Union to implement strict human rights, environmental, and governance safeguards within the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) to prevent the exploitation of resource-rich countries in the Global South during the energy transition.

• The signatories express concern over the lack of strong due diligence terminology and safeguards in the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and related legislation, noting that resource-rich countries face double impacts from climate change and increased mining for decarbonisation infrastructure.
• The letter demands that the CRMA mandate strict Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (mHREDD) and adhere to international standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and ILO Conventions.
• The coalition calls for the democratic formation of strategic partnerships, requiring the timely public announcement and disclosure of agreements with resource-rich countries prior to approval to address high corruption risks in the mining sector.
• The document specifies minimum requirements for strategic projects, including the necessity of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) from Indigenous Peoples, the exclusion of companies with histories of human rights abuses or environmental destruction, and the establishment of safe grievance mechanisms and access to justice for victims.
• The signatories request that strategic projects respect 'no-go zones', which include the deep-sea, the Arctic and Antarctic regions, Ramsar Sites, biosphere reserves, protected areas, and sacred sites.
• The letter argues that resource-rich countries should not be treated merely as raw material suppliers; it calls for value addition through climate finance, technology transfer, local procurement, and ensuring companies pay taxes and royalties in host countries.
• The coalition urges the European Union to take responsibility for reducing its own consumption by setting binding material reduction targets to lower the demand for raw materials from other countries.

APA

Trend Asia (2023). Open Letter to the European Union. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/EN-Global-Justice-Letter.pdf

Chicago

Trend Asia. Open Letter to the European Union. 2023. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/EN-Global-Justice-Letter.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Trend Asia |title=Open Letter to the European Union |date=17 July 2023 |url=https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/EN-Global-Justice-Letter.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{trendasia2023open, author = {{Trend Asia}}, title = {{Open Letter to the European Union}}, publisher = {Trend Asia}, year = {2023}, month = jul, url = {https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/EN-Global-Justice-Letter.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }