Open letter to EU Commission: Organisations representing indigenous peoples, forest communities & human rights defenders recommend essential elements for effective EU legal measures on corporate governance, due diligence & forest risk commodities
"Open letter from organisations representing indigenous peoples, forest communities and human rights defenders", 31 March 2021
We welcome recent EU commitments and initiatives to develop regulatory measures to address harmful human rights and environmental impacts on our communities from business and financial activities linked to the EU...
The purpose of this communication to the European Commission is to recommend essential elements for effective EU legal measures to ensure responsible corporate conduct, sustainable supply chains and corporate accountability. To this end, by means of this letter we hereby call on the EU to ensure that its upcoming legislative measures are effective and fully uphold our rights as set out in international law, and in line with the EU’s own commitments – both in proposed legislation on sustainable corporate governance involving a broad corporate duty to respect human rights and protect the environment, and in relation to EU regulations for forest risk commodities.
Rights and territories under threat from EU business activities, trade, finance and consumption...
Existing voluntary measures and company initiatives are not working for us...
Demands for effective, complementary and coherent EU regulatory measures:
The ongoing processes in the EU of assessing legal options for regulating sustainable corporate governance and supply chains free from rights abuse and deforestation represent a unique opportunity for the EU to fulfil its commitments to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, promote sustainable trade and require responsible corporate conduct, and fight the climate and biodiversity crises. While the current EU regulatory processes for supply chain and corporate governance reform are following two separate tracks, together they offer the potential to deliver a strong and comprehensive legal framework provided that their development is coordinated and the final provisions are mutually supportive...
In order for the ongoing legislative processes to lead to tangible positive results for human rights, people and forests, we believe that our grounded perspectives bring invaluable insights that the EU cannot afford to overlook...
[We] believe that complementary non-regulatory measures will be key to the effectiveness of any future legislation. We therefore also welcome future dialogue and collaboration with the EC...