Responding to the UK vote to leave the European Union, Global Witness CEO Gillian Caldwell said:
"The UK’s decision to leave the EU risks profoundly weakening UK efforts core to our mission at Global Witness: to protect human rights and tackle corruption, environmental destruction and climate change. So much of the progress we have made over the past 15 years has relied on the power of collective action within the European Union. Our ability to stop developing countries being robbed of their natural resources and to create a just, sustainable world depends on international and regional collaboration. The Brexit vote is also part and parcel of deeply worrying trends across the Atlantic and around the world towards a more xenophobic, inward-looking, and fear-based mentality. Now more than ever, the many people around the world who care passionately about the planet and the people that live on it must stand together and demand positive change.
"Global Witness will continue to fight for that change, working alongside our partners around the world. Together, we will demand that the UK continues to enforce existing EU laws to preserve the hard fought progress we’ve made on key issues such as climate change, transparency in oil and mining, and preventing the trade of conflict minerals and illegal logging. And we will insist that the EU – and the UK – continue to show leadership in the global fight against corruption, injustice and inequality. Only by working together, united rather than divided, will we be able to tackle the daunting challenges of our time."