The Raw Materials Week in Brussels, Belgium, has come to an end. This annual event, organized by the European Commission, aims to discuss how to ensure "sustainable and secure" access to raw materials in and for Europe, with the goal of strengthening international alliances to meet its defense, digitalization, and security goals.

The European Commission emphasized that Europe is highly dependent on mineral imports from Latin America, which deepens the region’s historical pressures and the resulting need for stronger socio-environmental protections. However, from the Andean Wetlands Alliance, we  maintain the week’s debates revealed an approach increasingly disconnected from human rights, community voices, and the global socio-environmental crisis.

This shift in priorities is part of a broader political turn marked by geopolitical tensions around access to critical minerals and new energy sources, as well as by the rise of conservative forces and authoritarianism. A trend is emerging within the EU toward the privatization of human rights and environmental standards, along with the weakening of social and environmental safeguards through deregulatory processes. An example of this is the debate on the possible weakening of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

The dominant narrative this week was shaped by concepts such as “competitiveness” and “defense” as the guiding axes of European policies. Within the framework of a geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States, Europe seeks to reduce its dependence on its long-standing Western ally under the slogan “Choose Europe,” which titled this year’s edition. In this context, the European Commission continued to promote access to minerals through an approach centered on the security of its supply chains, without assessing its policies in light of planetary boundaries or human rights. This approach contradicts the commitments associated with the energy transition that originally motivated the discussions on “critical minerals.” Today, we ask to what extent the cost of “choosing Europe” will continue to be borne by local communities in Latin America and other peripheral regions affected by mining expansion.

Today, we ask to what extent the cost of "choosing Europe" will continue to be borne by local communities in Latin America and in other peripheral regions affected by mining expansion.

This edition had the least debate compared to the last years on the need to integrate human rights into European mineral policies. Indeed, accreditation for access to the official event was limited, and the forum's official agenda lacked a space for communities and civil society from the Global South to express their perspectives on mineral value chains like lithium, and to influence the debates that will shape the decisions affecting them. Instead, discussions focused primarily on investment opportunities for corporations and governments.

From the Andean Wetlands Alliance, we highlight that the expansion of the extractive frontier contradicts the climate and biodiversity commitments endorsed by the EU and risks deepening existing asymmetries between the two regions. For this reason, we reaffirm our position on the need for a paradigm shift in EU raw materials policies, so that they become inclusive, transparent, and sustainable, ensuring the participation of communities and organizations located at the extractive frontier of transition minerals. Likewise, in the context of the ecological and democratic polycrisis, we stress the need for the EU to adopt concrete targets to effectively reduce mineral demand and to strengthen compliance with international human rights and environmental treaties.

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Press contacts

Víctor Quintanilla, AIDA (regional), [email protected], +521 5570522107
Rocío Wischñevsky, FARN (Argentina), [email protected], +541159518538
Manuel Fontenla, Asamblea PUCARÁ (Argentina), [email protected], +54 9 3834790609
Oscar Campanini, CEDIB (Bolivia), [email protected], +591 70344801
Juan Francisco Donoso, Formando Rutas, [email protected], +4915780743628