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human rights

’Double standards’: Spain slams EU inaction on Israel deal
27-Jun-2025 DW
An EU report concluded Israel might be breaching human rights in Gaza. The bloc could suspend a major trade deal, but it won’t. A brief hardening towards Israel appears to have dissipated after recent tensions with Iran.
EU cites ‘indications’ Israel is breaching human rights obligations over conduct in Gaza
24-Jun-2025 The Guardian
The EU has said “there are indications” that Israel is in breach of human rights obligations over its conduct in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for immediate sanctions.
EU: Suspend trade agreement with Israel
23-Jun-2025 Human Rights Watch
The European Union should immediately suspend its trade agreement with Israel as long as Israel’s atrocity crimes persist, Human Rights Watch and over 110 organizations and trade unions said in a joint statement.
Canada must not implement Ecuador free trade deal, says civil society organizations
11-Jun-2025 CCPA
The Canadian government should not implement the recently-signed free trade agreement with Ecuador because the agreement’s potential to facilitate environmental and human rights abuses.
Dismay as UK prepares to sign ‘values-free’ £1.6bn trade deal with Gulf states
30-May-2025 The Guardian
Trade unions and human rights organisations fear environment and human rights being pushed aside.
UK suspends free trade talks with Israel and announces sanctions over West Bank settlers
21-May-2025 AP
The UK suspended free trade talks with Israel and hit West Bank settlers with sanctions, less than a day after vowing “concrete actions” if Israel didn’t stop its new military offensive in Gaza.
EU to review agreement with Israel over Gaza concerns, Kallas says
21-May-2025 Reuters
The European Union will review a pact governing its political and economic ties with Israel due to the "catastrophic" situation in Gaza, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said after a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers.
Indigenous Brazilians protest EU-Mercosur deal in European Parliament
20-May-2025 Euronews
Indigenous peoples’ representatives fear that increased trade with Europe will lead to the agricultural exploitation of their territories
EU faces growing pressure to review agreement with Israel as Gaza aid blockade tightens
14-May-2025 The National
Ireland has increased pressure on the EU to review the human rights clause of its association agreement with Israel following a famine alert in Gaza.
Belgian government parties agree on joint Gaza resolution
14-May-2025 Belga
The majority parties in the Belgian government agreed on a joint motion for a resolution and call to ’critically reassess’ cooperation with Israel on the basis of a formal review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Ireland calls for review of EU-Israel association agreement
12-May-2025 SABA
Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense Simon Harris called on Sunday for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
France backs calls to review EU-Israel agreement over Gaza
12-May-2025 Free Malaysia Today
Paris labels the Jewish state’s attitude ‘incomprehensible’ as Palestinians face starvation and looming famine.
Netherlands urges review of EU-Israel trade deal over ‘catastrophic’ Gaza aid block
10-May-2025 The Guardian
Foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp tells top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas he believes Israel is in breach of rights obligations linked to trade agreement.
Israeli developer accuses Cyprus of political persecution in landmark lawsuit
4-Apr-2025 Ynetnews
The lawsuit, filed against the Republic of Cyprus, is based on a 1998 bilateral investment treaty between Cyprus and Israel.
Conflicts of interest and sovereignty at stake: The Ecuador-Canada FTA
2-Apr-2025 CEPR
Ecuador’s free trade agreement with Canada presents a glaring conflict of interest for President Noboa, whose family, one of Ecuador’s wealthiest, has a sizable financial stake in a Canada-based mining company.
Investment treaties: Protecting transition investments, but are they just?
1-Apr-2025 Business Human Rights Journal
The urgent demand for critical minerals has led to the expansion of mining operations, often accompanied by significant human rights and environmental abuses that cause social unrest and spark disputes between states and foreign investors.
Decolonising EU trade relations with the Global Souths?
28-Feb-2025 Journal of Contemporary European Research
This article thinks reflexively about the decolonial option and the ruptures it triggers as to what EU trade policy is and the colonial logics sustaining ‘normative’ and ‘geopolitical’ narratives on/by the EU as a trade power.
EU-Mercosur Agreement: Old pledges, new potential impacts for food systems and a just transition
27-Feb-2025 IATP
The EU-Mercosur Agreement continues with the narrative that it ensures environmental clauses and climate commitments, in practice it implements measures that could divert means and resources that could otherwise be used for a genuine, just, ecological and inclusive transition.
Joint letter ahead of the European Union-Israel Association Council
20-Feb-2025 ETUN Palestine
In a letter sent ahead of the European Union-Israel Association Council meeting, our network alongside 120 trade unions, civil society and human rights organisations called on the EU to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Good for mining but bad for democracy? Why Indigenous groups in Ecuador oppose free trade deal with Canada
17-Feb-2025 CBC
Ecuador’s largest Indigenous organization is vowing to fight a now-concluded free trade agreement with Canada, warning it could encourage human rights abuses in the ecologically and culturally diverse South American country.