EU relations with Africa must mean justice and inclusion for African peoples
Luanda, 25 November 2025
Civil society organisations from across Africa and Europe have released a joint statement responding to the official AU–EU Summit Declaration, urging leaders to address structural inequalities and centre people—not corporations or geopolitical interests—in the partnership.
The response follows the AU–EU Civil Society Parallel Summit held on 19 November, where movements, NGOs, churches, youth and feminist networks, labour unions, environmental coalitions, and community groups met to develop a shared agenda for equitable cooperation.
Civil society leaders welcome dialogue between Africa and Europe but warn that the official declaration prioritises investment, trade liberalisation, and infrastructure expansion while neglecting human rights, democratic participation, and community wellbeing. They raise concerns that the declaration:
- Reinforces extractive economic structures that keep Africa dependent on raw commodity exports;
- Sidelines small-scale food producers, workers, and communities in favour of corporate interests;
- Lacks commitments to agroecology, food sovereignty, and ending hazardous pesticide exports to Africa;
- Focuses on carbon markets rather than environmental justice and community-led climate resilience;
- Frames migration through a security lens instead of protecting migrant rights and dignity;
- Offers symbolic, not substantive, roles for civil society.
The joint civil society statement puts forward a people-centred vision for AU–EU cooperation, calling for protection of civic space, stronger decentralised governance, fair regional trade, transparent natural resource governance, meaningful inclusion of women and youth, and support for agroecology and farmer-managed seed systems.
It also outlines plans for coordinated African–European advocacy in 2026 on land rights, seed sovereignty, biodiversity, and pesticide justice.
Read the full Civil Society Statement Here
Additional resources:
For a partnership that brings justice for the African people, joint civil society statement in view of the 7th African Union-European Union (AU-EU) Summit, 10 November 2005 (FR – PT)
SECAM Press Statement on the 7th AU–EU Summit in Luanda/Angola, 20 November 2025 (FR – PT)
AU–EU-Gipfel in Luanda: Klima- und Energieagenda muss im Zentrum der Verhandlungen stehen, joint Germanwatch and Misereor Press release, 24 November
Giustizia ed equità per un vero partenariato EU-AF, Focsiv release, 26 November
CIDSE contact: Manny Yap, Food and Land Officer (yap(at)cidse.org)
Cover photo: AU–EU Civil Society Parallel Summit participants, Luanda, November 2025. Credit: CIDSE