SOMO

While we welcome the major progress made at the Santa Marta conference, we regret that the debate refused to name a crucial dimension:

Legal gaps are letting fossil fuels power war and genocide. 🚩

Fossil fuels aren’t just a climate crisis. They’re a weapons system.

While Israel continues to commit genocide against the Palestinian people, other countries continue to supply the energy they need to do so.

As long as fuel shipments to Israel and countries committing genocide continue, countries are failing on their obligations to use all means reasonably available to prevent genocide, under the Genocide Convention.

Together with 72 organisations, unions and networks, we’ve signed an open letter calling on delegations at Santa Marta to:

- Affirm that regulating fossil fuels isn’t just a matter of climate policy but of international human rights and humanitarian laws.

- Require countries and companies exporting fossil fuels to verify and control how those fuels will ultimately be used.

- Demand the withdrawal of all remaining states from the Energy Charter Treaty and the dismantling of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions that protect fossil fuels from accountability.

- Explicitly acknowledge the link between the genocide against the Palestinian people and unregulated fossil fuel trade.

- Require an immediate energy embargo on Israel under international law obligations.

The full letter via the link in bio.

A groundbreaking lawsuit was filed today against Levi Strauss Nederland B.V. and Levi Strauss & Co Europe BV (together Levi’s). 💼

Through public statements on responsible production and respect for workers’ rights, Levi’s presented itself as an ethical brand.

These claims helped convince Dutch consumers they were making a responsible choice. But in 2025, CCC uncovered a different reality.

A campaign amplified testimonies of severe worker repression at a Turkish factory producing exclusively for Levi’s. Workers who peacefully protested for better conditions faced violence from provincial security forces and were later dismissed.

Hundreds are still demanding compensation.

Dutch law protects consumers against misleading claims. Brands’ statements must accurately reflect workers’ conditions.

The case is brought by the Dutch office of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), together with four consumers who purchased Levi’s products on the basis of these claims.

SOMO supports the proceedings and has assisted the case with factual research and legal strategy development.

Read more: Link in bio