The European Commission today released new proposals for how the European Union deals with globalization issues.
Paul de Clerck from Friends of the Earth Europe reacted to the 'Harnessing Globalisation' paper:
Friends of the Earth Europe staged a 'marriage made in hell' outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels today to symbolise the threat to food and farming posed by the planned merger of the agriculture and chemical companies Bayer and Monsanto.
More than 200 organisations have today raised their objections to the planned mergers of six giant agriculture corporations.
Friends of the Earth Europe has today sharply criticised the decision by European regulators to approve the merger of Dow Chemicals and DuPont. The approval paves the way for the creation of the world's biggest agri-chemical and seed company.
The seeds have been sown for an international agreement that could put human rights before corporate interests, according to Friends of the Earth Europe. The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) met this week in Geneva to discuss a set of legally-binding rules for transnational corporations in relation to human rights known as "the UN treaty".
90,000 citizens called on the European Union to support a binding treaty on business and human rights today, and to participate in international discussion on the issue in Geneva on the 24th October.
Foreign affairs ministers from across the EU today published their conclusions on business and human rights. Friends of the Earth Europe welcomes a reference to the UN process to establish binding rules that would force multinational corporations to respect human rights laws [1], but calls on the EU to start actively supporting this UN process.
Last week, several European newspapers published revelations about a proposal to roll out highly controversial corporate tribunals across Europe. [1]
Activists from the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) – the indigenous group that was led by murdered environmental activist Berta Caceres – are calling for the suspension of European aid to Honduras until human rights in the country are respected.
Europe needs to toughen-up its regulations for how investors deal with environmental and social risks, according to Friends of the Earth Europe and Global Witness.