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EU pushes Mercosur Trade Pact as raw-materials ethics loom large
4-Dec-2025 Latin America Reports
As the EU accelerates its plan to sign its long-delayed trade agreement with South American economic bloc Mercosur, the pact’s role in securing raw materials is drawing criticism.
European Commission registers citizens’ initiative demanding suspension of EU-Israel Association Agreement
26-Nov-2025 Anadolu
The European Commission registered a European Citizens’ Initiative, demanding that the Commission fully suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement over Israeli violations of international law.
Canada to pursue free trade negotiations with the Philippines as land and environmental defenders continue to be killed
20-Nov-2025 Peace Brigades International
On November 5, 2025, the Canadian government tabled a Notice of Intent to enter into free trade negotiations with the Philippines.
Has the EU sacrificed human rights to economic expediency in Indonesia?
11-Nov-2025 The Diplomat
The Indonesia - EU CEPA grants duty-free access to the EU market for palm oil, minerals, and other commodities linked to environmental degradation and abuse, while failing to enforce accountability for Indigenous rights or environmental harm.
Migrant justice groups call for USMCA overhaul to stop displacement and protect the rights of migrant workers
10-Nov-2025 Public Citizen
Public Citizen joined prominent migrant justice organizations in calling for the agreement, as well as immigration policies, to be rewritten to prioritize human rights, labor protections, and climate resilience.
Is Canada prepared to ignore alarming human rights violations to advance a controversial free trade agreement with Ecuador?
3-Nov-2025 The Hill Times
The Canadian government must not remain indifferent to the bloodshed and the incontrovertible reality of a grave human rights crisis in Ecuador.
Not a border crisis, but a “free trade” crisis
17-Oct-2025 Public Citizen
A new report unpacks how decades of corporate-led trade agreements have displaced millions of people, stripping them of their livelihoods and forcing them to migrate to survive.
The international investment legal regime, climate change, and human rights: an overview
3-Oct-2025 CIEL
Fossil fuel companies alone have launched over 300 ISDS cases, seeking over $80 billion in damages for climate-related policies aimed at phasing out oil, gas, and coal.
Thai civil society’s open letter to the European Commission ahead of the next round of FTA negotiations: “trade must advance, not undermine, human rights”
30-Sep-2025 Thai Lawyers for Human Rights
As longstanding advocates of human rights and democracy, the EU can leverage the FTA to spotlight abuses and ensure the respect of rule of law, democracy, and human rights, and ensuring that they remain central to the agreement.
RSF and 16 NGOs press Germany, Italy and Czechia to back suspending EU-Israel Association Agreement over abuses of journalists
30-Sep-2025 RSF
The EU must send a clear message to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which continues to flout its international human rights commitments and to massacre journalists in Gaza.
EU-Vietnam trade agreement has failed to promote rights
25-Sep-2025 Human Rights Watch
EU trade chief’s visit to Hanoi should address political prisoners, labor rights.
EU-Vietnam trade agreement has failed to promote rights
24-Sep-2025 Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch and other groups repeatedly warned EU officials about Vietnam’s rights record before the EVFTA was ratified. Since then, \Vietnam has not only failed to undertake any significant reforms but intensified its systematic repression of basic freedoms.
European Commission calls for freezing of free trade with Israel over Gaza
18-Sep-2025 The Guardian
The EU executive has called for a suspension of free trade with Israel and sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Withdraw from new bilateral investment treaty with Israel, rights groups and citizens urge Indian govt
17-Sep-2025 The Wire
Condemning the recently-inked India-Israel Bilateral Investment Treaty and terming it a clear sign of India’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, nearly 100 rights organisations and individuals have urged the Indian government to withdraw from the treaty.
Cancel the Canada-Israel free trade agreement
17-Sep-2025 CJPME
The Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement treats Palestinian land as though it were “Israeli,” rewarding illegal settlements and giving cover to Israel’s ceaseless colonial expansion.
EU measures too little too late
11-Sep-2025 Linkedin
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her State of the Union speech to finally address the situation in Palestine after weeks of silence.
’Complicit in genocide’: Two opposition parties condemn India signing trade agreement with Israel
10-Sep-2025 The New Indian Express
Condemning Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s visit to India, the CPI(M) said it is "shameful" that the government is hosting him at a time when people are being massacred in Gaza every day.
Joint statement: Human rights concerns regarding the UK’s Free Trade Agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council
1-Sep-2025 Human Rights Watch
A coalition of rights groups and trade unions express deep concern around the lack of transparency and rights protections in the forthcoming Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council
Trump threatens trade deal after Canada moves towards recognising Palestine
1-Aug-2025 Al Jazeera
Canada and the US are working on negotiating a trade deal by August 1, with Trump threatening a 35% tariff on Canada.
Sweden calls for freeze on trade element of EU-Israel agreement
1-Aug-2025 Belga
Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson has demanded that the EU freeze the trade part of its association agreement with Israel.