This blog is authored by Sébastien Duyck, Senior Attorney; Campaign Manager Human Rights & Climate, Center for International Environmental Law, Amy Jacobsen, Legal Counsel Communications, Greenpeace International, Katharina Rall, Senior Researcher in the Environment and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, and Chiara Liguori,  Climate Justice Policy Adviser and Researcher, Amnesty International.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 unleashed numerous war crimes, generated a global energy and food crisis and further disrupted a weak multilateral system. It also laid bare the hypocrisy of European countries, which reacted forcefully to the Kremlin’s aggression but condoned or were complicit in grave violations committed elsewhere. Commendably, they immediately put in place legal protections for Ukrainian refugees fleeing war, whilst simultaneously blocking others fleeing conflict and repression in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, Amnesty International said as it launched Amnesty International Report 2022/23: The State of the World’s Human Rights.

No more exploitation, no more environmental destruction, no more unjust business practices by European companies. Those are the demands of the Justice is Everybody’s Business campaign, launched today in Brussels by nearly 100 civil society and trade union organisations. The campaign urges the EU to issue a strong due diligence law that effectively requests businesses to prevent human rights and environmental harm and provides effective tools to hold businesses accountable for failures and harm.

Responding to news that the Austrian-based Kelkos Energy has withdrawn its baseless defamation lawsuits against Shpresa Loshaj and Adriatik Gacaferi, environmental activists in Kosovo who publicly raised concerns about the environmental impact of hydropower projects, Jelena Sesar, Western Balkans researcher at Amnesty International said: