As the Mobile World Congress is held in Barcelona, the Mobile Social Congress will reflect on the future of the technology industry

The MSC, which will take place from February 26 to March 2, will kick off with an artivism action at the gates of the MWC and throughout the week will host panel discussions, talks, family games and a live podcast. The Mobile Social Congress (MSC), held in Barcelona at the same time as the Mobile World Congress (MWC), will emphasize the real costs of the technology we consume, especially the … Read More

Fatal accident at a nickel mine in Morowali, Indonesia

  On the afternoon of 24 December 2023, a fire broke out in the nickel smelter PT ITSS (Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel), one of the companies in the PT IMIP (Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park) area. So far, the death toll is 19, plus 32 workers who have been seriously injured and are currently being treated in hospital. The Fair Electronics Campaign denounces the facts and the lack of measures to … Read More

Open Letter to the European Union: The Critical Raw Materials Act Must Ensure Effective Social, Environmental and Governance Safeguards and Provide Meaningful Participation

Dear Commissioners, Dear Honourable Members of the European Parliament, Dear Ministers, We, movements, Indigenous Peoples, and Civil Society Organizations, particularly but not exclusively from resource-rich countries in the Global South, are very concerned due to the lack of strong due diligence terminology and safeguards for the sourcing of raw materials in the Critical Raw Materials Act and other related legislation. We, in resource-rich countries, are already experiencing the double impacts of the climate … Read More

A Turning Point: The Critical Raw Materials Act’s needs to be truly socially and environmentally just

We support the position promoted by more than 40 civil society organisations, to demand that the Critical First Raw Material Act have a fair social and green transition. The 21st century demands global efforts to address the multiple social and environmental crises that we are facing, which also negatively impacts the economy. Solutions exist, but demand political will (such as product ecodesign legislation or singular use product bans), and a … Read More

The highest volum of imported products at-risk of modern slavery worldwide were electronics during 2021, according to the ‘Global Slavery Index 2023’

US$468 billion of G20 nations imports are goods at risk of modern slavery, as the electronics plays a major role. Modern slavery takes many forms and is known by many names: forced labour, forced or serville marriage, forced commercial sexual exploitation, human trafficking, slavery-like practices, and the sale and exploition of children. In all its forms, we’re talking about “the systematic elimination of people’s freedom”, where they cannot reject situations … Read More

We are calling for the destruction of unsold electronic products to stop!

SETEM Catalunya, as members of the European Right to Repair campaign, we join in the letter addressed to European parliamentarians, calling for the new European Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation to ban the destruction of unsold electronic and textile products, along with 45 other NGOs throughout Europe. The destruction of unsold products represents the most wasteful scenario conceivable in a linear economy. Throughout the process of manufacturing these products there … Read More

Foxconn workers in China flee the factory en masse

This past October there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou in China, the largest complex that produces iPhones for Apple, which houses different production plants. At the time, a spokesperson for Apple’s supplier said the impact was manageable and conditions at the factory were stable. However, the company prioritized maintaining production, rather than protecting workers from the outbreak. This unleashed further contagion, to which the … Read More

The European Parliament calls for removable and replaceable batteries

Chloé Mikolajczak Campaigner, Right to Repair Europe   This week, the European Parliament voted in favor of making batteries more sustainable, including making them removable and replaceable. MEPs were voting in plenary on their report on  the battery regulation proposed by the European Commission in 2020. They adopted an ambitious position on the issue of removability and replaceability of batteries, a key aspect to extend the lifetime of electronic products … Read More

Serbia: Wave of protests achieves victories against lithium mining

Summary of the article written by Francisco Norega in guilhotina.info To foster economic growth, the Serbian government has recently made mineral resources available to foreign investors such as Rio Tinto and the Chinese mining group Zijin. Rio Tinto intends to open a 400-hectare lithium mine in an agricultural area along the Jadar River, 14 km from Loznica, a city of 20,000 inhabitants in western Serbia. The company assures that it … Read More

Non-replaceable batteries are bad news for the environment and consumers

Writen by Chloé Mikolajczak – Campaigner, Right to Repair Europe Most batteries cannot be easily removed, replaced or repaired, resulting in shorter device lifetimes. Planning to buy a smartphone, an e-bike or any other product that includes a rechargeable battery for Christmas? This new research, carried out by the Right to Repair campaign in collaboration with the EEB and the University of Lund shows that most batteries in today’s products … Read More

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