Legal Memo on Chinese investments in Serbia Shows Weakened Rule of Law, Leading to Forced Labour and Human Rights Abuses

Ahead of this week’s European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) vote on Serbia, Just Finance International and Serbia’s Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI) today published a legal analysis detailing how a weakening of law and transparency in Serbia has provided loopholes for large scale infrastructure investments, including from China, leading to reports of forced labour and human rights abuses, along with impacts on human health and the environment.

Legal Analysis: Increased Legal Violations from Chinese Investments in Serbia

It is common for Serbian government authorities to hide information, without a legal or security basis for doing so, when submitting documents to the online portal or responding to information requests. This may include protecting the name of the legal entity, as well as the official case number and other data that should be available to the public.

Mještani ugroženi nakon što je kineski Zijin utrostručio proizvodnju u kombinatu bakra u Srbiji

U istočnoj Srbiji nalazi se Bor, jedan od najzagađenijih gradova u toj zemlji. Dok mještani demonstriraju zbog zagađenog vazduha i vode, kineska rudarska kompanija „Serbia Zijin Copper“ koja upravlja velikim rudarsko-metalurškim kompleksom proširuje rudarske radove bez potrebnih dozvola, saglasnosti mještana i transparentnog procesa.

Local residents at risk after China’s Zijin triples production at Serbian copper complex

Bor, in north-eastern Serbia, is one of the country’s most polluted cities. While citizens protest their toxic air and water, Chinese mining company Zijin, which runs the city’s large-scale copper mining and smelting complex, is expanding its operations without permits, local consent or transparency.