If European governments follow suit, this law would represent a sea change in what is expected of companies when the minerals in their products come from countries riven by conflict.
Partnerships and same-sex couples from certain countries face discrimination by the state, which portrays same-sex couples as outsiders or simply ignores these individuals.
A Congolese artisan mine worker shows a small peice of gold found after water processing, in Chudja, Democratric Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN reveals that a lot of gold is still financing armed groups in DRC. Credit: EPA
Dr Pietro Bartolo (2nd from right) meets with an Amnesty International delegation at Lampedusa hospital, 24 April 2015. © Amnesty International
18/05/2015 – The European Union is the world’s largest economy, the world’s largest trading block, and home to 500 million consumers. Every year, millions of euro worth of minerals flow into the EU from some of the poorest places on earth. No questions are asked about how they are extracted, or whether their trade fuels conflict in local communities. The EU has no legislation in place to ensure companies source their minerals responsibly. Now is the time for change.
Today we have seen the European Commission take a first step in shifting its Fortress Europe attitude towards the refugee crisis, but it will need to be implemented expansively and with the full backing of all EU member states.
Dilorom Abdukadirova. © Amnesty International
Uzbekistan Stop Torture action, October 2014. © Amnesty International
European leaders must ensure that refugees and migrants fleeing conflict and human rights abuses are never pushed back to Libya.
07/05/2015 – ‘Libya is full of cruelty’: Stories of abduction, sexual violence and abuse from migrants and refugees exposes the full horror and plight of refugees and migrants in Libya, many of whom are driven to risk their lives in treacherous sea crossings in a desperate attempt to reach sanctuary in Europe.
French authorities could soon be bugging peoples’ homes, cars and phone lines without approval from a judge, even where there is no reasonable suspicion that they have done anything wrong.