We, the undersigned human rights and environmental civil society organisations, call on members of the JURI Committee to support the protection of the internationally-recognised rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the distinct but also internationally-recognised rights of other peoples and of local communities, in the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

The CSDDD and its goal to address the human rights and environmental impacts of companies' global value chains is much welcomed and needed to realise the European Union’s human rights and environmental commitments. If properly formulated and implemented, it has the potential to help curtail human rights violations and environmental destruction around the world linked to the operations and value chains of companies operating on the EU market.

However, the existing proposal is insufficiently rigorous in respect of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the rights of other peoples and local communities, particularly in relation to land and in respect of collective rights...

In order to ensure that the rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the rights of other peoples and local communities, are not excluded from the EU’s efforts to address human rights violations in companies’ value chains, we ask members of the JURI committee to support the following improvements to the Directive:

1. Improve the coverage of the internationally recognised rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to self-determination and FPIC [...]
2. Protect the rights of other peoples and local communities, particularly their rights to land and associated rights [...]
3. Require companies to consult, and fully respect the rights, of vulnerable rightsholders as part of their due diligence processes [...]

With the upcoming JURI committee vote imminent, we call on you as members of the Committee to support amendments that will maintain and improve the Commission proposal with regard to the protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the rights of other peoples and local communities. This is the only approach that will uphold the EU’s international obligations, and is consistent with recommendations repeatedly made by the European Parliament since 2018 and recalled in its resolution of March 2021. We are counting on you.