More than 42,000 people demand: “Protect human rights when promoting foreign trade”
On May 15, 2025, Rainforest Rescue, FIAN, Powershift and WEED presented the petition "Aluminum: Germany's profit is Guinea's destruction" to the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy.
Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, 15.05.2025
The German government must ensure that the vital resources of the people who live near the Sangarédi bauxite mine in Guinea are not destroyed and forced resettlement is avoided. 42,666 people call on the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) to fully comply with its human rights obligations.
On 15 May 2024, we from Rainforest Rescue, FIAN, Powershift and WEED presented the petition Aluminum: Germany's profit is Guinea's destruction to the ministry as part of the Citizens' Dialogue.
More than 90 percent of the bauxite imported by the Federal Republic of Germany comes from the Sangarédi mine in Guinea. Bauxite ore is used to produce aluminum, a crucial metal in the automotive industry, which makes the mine of particular importance for the industry and it is therefore Germany's responsibility to ensure that human rights are upheld.
In Sangarédi, the mining company Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) is destroying fields and forests; vital resources for the 20 villages in the mining area. For years, the people have been fighting for the preservation of what is left of their natural environment, for their human rights and for restoring nature in areas already devastated by the mining.
Plans to expand the Sangarédi mine are underway. To this end, the German government has insured a loan from ING Diba to the CBG mining group to secure a steady supply of bauxite for its aluminum industry.
The staff of the Citizens' Dialogue at the BMWE took our criticism and the demands of the petitioners seriously and we assured them that we would follow the ministry's activities closely and continue to keep an eye on this urgent case.
Marianne Klute from Rainforest Rescue highlighted the serious environmental destruction caused by the mine and the lack of biosphere restoration: “CBG has ruthlessly and irreparably cut down primary forests and destroyed water ecosystems.”
Gertrud Falk from FIAN Germany called for the German government to finally fulfill its human rights obligations: “It must ensure that the human rights of the local population are completely restored and protected.”