EJF considers that the Commonwealth has a key role in addressing the unsustainable exploitation of global fisheries, both within the waters of Commonwealth countries and those of the international community. Global fisheries have effectively reached their maximum sustainable yield and if strong action by world leaders is not taken now, there will be severe economic, social and ecological consequences. Vulnerable coastal communities in developing countries are most at risk, as they often depend on fisheries for their livelihoods and food security.

EJF is working with our partners to secure a legally-binding, international protocol that can fill the existing gaps in legislation and ensure that the refugee support system evolves within the context of our changing world. This new legal instrument would recognize people displaced by deteriorating environmental conditions associated with climate change as a vulnerable social group, and confer them equivalent but legally distinct protection to that conferred to refugees fleeing persecution under the 1951 Geneva Convention. This briefing outlines specific recommendations for the EU, including the need to systemically link aid and development, environment and migration policies and decision-making.

EJF's report White Gold: Uzbekistan, Slave Nation for Our Cotton? summarises information provided by independent journalists and human rights activists on the conditions under which the Uzbek cotton industry operates, and produces evidence of young children picking cotton at the behest of the authoritarian Uzbek government.

EJF’s “Slave Nation” reveals how the Government of Uzbekistan continues to lie to the international community while routinely compelling hundreds of thousands of children as labourers in the country’s annual cotton harvest.

With evidence that little has changed despite the promises of the Uzbek Government and with the spring planting season just around the corner, EJF asks whether it will be children forced to pick the crop again when the harvest comes around later this year.

This report from 2010 investigates the use of flags of convenience by pirate fishing vessels and advocates for the end of this widespread practice that is 'the scourge of today's maritime world'.

The report provides case studies from West Africa, Southeast Asia, the Indian and Pacific Oceans, all regions with high incidences of illegal fishing. Human rights abuses directly documented by EJF and other organisations, including the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), include physical and emotional abuse, incarceration, forced labour without pay, abandonment, and reports of murder.

Somebody Knows is a report that explains how retailers can investigate their supply chain, tracing the production of their goods from raw materials to finished products, enabling them to eliminate cotton from environmentally or socially unacceptable practices – such as cotton from Uzbekistan.

The report reveals the widespread use of state-sponsored forced child labour in the cotton fields of the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan, the world’s 3rd largest cotton exporter and a major supplier to both European traders and ultimately, the EU marketplace.

Its release coincides with the tenth anniversary of the landmark International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

EJF's No Place Like Home: Where next for climate refugees? report considers how the negative impacts of climate change are impacting on human rights and driving millions of people from their homes and land each year. It puts the call to governments and political leaders to secure a new agreement on climate refugees, guaranteeing them effective enjoyment of their human rights and a fair claim to our shared world.

How EU hygiene standards facilitate illegal fishing in West Africa.

A known killer and toxic to the environment, the pesticide endosulfan remains a serious health and environmental hazard.

Despite being banned in 62 countries, its continued production and use continues to poison and people and environments as a number of countries, led by India, stand in the way of a global ban.

This report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) details the environmental and human impacts of one of the world's most dangerous and pervasive pesticides, highlighting why it should be banned globally.

In collaboration with the Pesticide Action Network UK this report reveals the routine use of harmful chemicals, including nerve agents and neurotoxins, on cotton crops.

Vomiting, paralysis, incontinence, coma, seizures and death are some of the many side effects suffered by farmers and children in the developing world who are routinely exposed to pesticides, many of which are banned or restricted in use in the West. The report puts a case across for organic cotton alternatives.