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Ocean Summit Wake-Up Call on Plastics Treaty 'Only Matters If Countries Back It Up With Action'
Civil society groups responded to the declaration by stressing that the statement must be a "floor, not a ceiling" going into the next round of global plastics treaty talks.
Jun 11, 2025
Nearly 100 countries at the United Nations Ocean Conference on Tuesday issued a joint declaration demanding a bold global plastics treaty ahead of the next round of negotiations—a call that civil society groups welcomed, while also stressing that any strong language must be followed by similar action.
The "Nice Wake-Up Call for an Ambitious Plastics Treaty," named for the French coastal city hosting this week's U.N. summit, says that "we are heartened by the constructive engagement of the majority of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) members to conclude an effective treaty that is urgently needed, acknowledging the scale of socioeconomic challenges that ending plastic pollution may represent for certain parties."
The declaration focuses on five key points for the next talks, INC-5.2, scheduled for August 5-14 in Geneva, Switzerland:
- We recognize that addressing the increasing and unsustainable levels of production and consumption of plastics is essential;
- We call for a legally binding obligation to phase out the most problematic plastic products and chemicals of concern in plastic products;
- We emphasize the importance of a binding obligation to improve the design of plastic products and ensure they cause minimum environmental impact and safeguard human health;
- We recognize the need for effective means of implementation and accessible, new, and additional financing, noting the special circumstances of least developed countries and small island developing states; and
- We call for an effective and ambitious treaty that can evolve over time and is responsive to changes in emerging evidence and knowledge.
"A treaty that lacks these elements, only relies on voluntary measures, or does not address the full lifecycle of plastics will not be effective to deal with the challenge of plastic pollution," warns the declaration, backed by the European Union and countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Iceland, Madagascar, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Switzerland, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, and Vanuatu.
Erin Simon, vice president for plastic waste and business at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), said Tuesday that the statement "sends a positive signal that there is strong collaboration and support to secure a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution."
"These are the types of priorities we're hopeful will be included in a final treaty," Simon noted. "Millions of people around the world have called for a solution to the plastic pollution crisis and while today is a step in the right direction we must continue to push toward advancing a meaningful and enduring agreement in Geneva."
Graham Forbes, Greenpeace USA's global plastics campaign lead and head of the group's delegation for the treaty talks, said that "the Nice declaration, signed by an overwhelming majority of countries, is the wake-up call the world needs. Governments are finally saying the quiet part out loud: We cannot end plastic pollution without cutting plastic production. Full stop."
Forbes continued:
The Nice Declaration tackles the root cause of the crisis, which is the ever-growing, reckless production of plastics driven by fossil fuel giants. The message to industry lobbyists is loud and clear: The health of our children is more important than your bottom line.
We welcome the call for a legally binding global cap on plastic production, and real rules to phase out the most toxic plastic products and chemicals. For too long, treaty talks have been stuck in circular conversations while plastic pollution chokes our oceans, poisons our bodies, and fuels the climate crisis.
But this statement only matters if countries back it up with action this August in Geneva at INC-5.2. That means no voluntary nonsense, no loopholes, and no surrender to fossil fuel and petrochemical interests. We need a treaty with teeth—one that slashes plastic production, holds polluters accountable, and protects people on the frontlines.
Greenpeace and WWF's global groups are part of a coalition of over 230 civil society organizations and rights holders focused on the plastics treaty—which responded to the new declaration by emphasizing that it must be a "floor, not a ceiling."
🚨Today, +230 civil society organizations welcome the renewed commitment of +90 countries to forge a binding global treaty to end plastic pollution and protect human health and the environment by addressing the full life cycle of plastics 🌍✊www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2025/06/11/n...
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— Break Free From Plastic (@breakfreefromplastic.org) June 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
"The Nice declaration is a welcome step, but words must be followed with actions if we are serious about protecting the rights and health of all. Member states must show decisive leadership at INC-5.2 and deliver a strong, legally binding plastics treaty that leaves no one behind," said Juressa Lee, co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples' Forum on Plastics, a coalition member.
"Communities on the frontlines, including Indigenous Peoples, are bearing the brunt of plastic pollution at every stage of its toxic lifecycle: from oil and gas extraction, to plastic production, to waste dumping, and the challenging process of environmental remediation, including the restoration of contaminated sites and the recognition of those who have protected these oceans and territories for millennia," Lee added. "We need action, not delay, to safeguard the ocean and the communities that depend on them."
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UK, Other Nations Sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich for 'Inciting Violence' Against Palestinians in West Bank
"Today's measures focus on the West Bank, but of course this cannot be seen in isolation from the catastrophe in Gaza," said the foreign ministers of five western countries.
Jun 10, 2025
The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom on Tuesday announced sanctions and "other measures" targeting two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for "inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank."
In a joint statement, the countries accused Ben-Gvir and Smotrich of being complicit in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.
"Settler violence is incited by extremist rhetoric which calls for Palestinians to be driven from their homes, encourages violence and human rights abuses and fundamentally rejects the two-state solution. Settler violence has led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole communities," according to the statement. "Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights."
Within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, Ben-Gvir is the national security minister and Smotrich is finance minister.
The two are now subject to an asset freeze and travel ban, the U.K. government said.
Last year, the outlet Al Jazeera put the number of settlers, Israeli citizens who live on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, at over 700,000.
Also last year, the United Nation's International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israeli settlements "and the regime associated with them" were established and continue to be maintained in violation of international law.
A U.N. report from last month found that Israeli settler violence is on the rise and has reached its highest rate in at least 20 years.
The statement from the foreign ministers indicates the sanctions are applied to Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in a personal capacity and that the announced measures "do not deviate from our unwavering support for Israel's security."
"Today's measures focus on the West Bank, but of course this cannot be seen in isolation from the catastrophe in Gaza. We continue to be appalled by the immense suffering of civilians, including the denial of essential aid," according to the statement. "We will continue to work with the Israeli government and a range of partners. We will strive to ensure an immediate cease-fire, the release now of the remaining hostages and for the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid including food."
The move comes after some escalation of pressure on Israel by the U.K. and some other western countries.
"The U.K. has finally sanctioned Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. Good. Now sanction the entire Israeli government and military officials. Genocide, war crimes, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, and land theft aren’t just the agenda of two extremists—they're official state policy," wrote Zarah Sultana, a lawmaker in Britain's Labour Party, on Bluesky on Tuesday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the move by the western nations "unacceptable," according to multiple outlets.
Ben-Gvir posted a statement on X on Tuesday that said: "While the European colonial countries fantasize that we Jews are still their subjects, the streets of their famous cities are being taken over by radical Islam. But their campaign of appeasement for the Hamas terrorists will not save them. When they finally wake up, it will be too late!"
Smotrich also responded defiantly to news of the sanctions on Tuesday.
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Israel's Destruction of Gaza Education, Cultural Sites Part of Campaign to 'Obliterate Palestinian Life': UN Expert
"Israel's targeting of the educational, cultural, and religious life of the Palestinian people will harm the present generations and generations to come," said the chair of an independent UN commission.
Jun 10, 2025
A report released Tuesday by an independent United Nations commission says that Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 2023 have effectively obliterated the enclave's education system and have caused damage to more than half of all religious and cultural sites there.
The report states that Israeli security forces killed civilians sheltering in schools, and in doing so "committed the crime against humanity of extermination."
A statement from the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel cast Israel's attacks on education, religious, and cultural sites as amounting to "war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination." The commission's report focuses on Gaza but also probed attacks of these types on sites in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and in Israel.
"We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza," said Navi Pillay, chair of the commission. "Israel's targeting of the educational, cultural, and religious life of the Palestinian people will harm the present generations and generations to come, hindering their right to self-determination."
In October 2023, Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing over 1,000 people and taking roughly 250 hostages—prompting Israel to carry out a fierce military campaign in the Gaza Strip. Multiple human rights groups have said Israel is guilty of committing genocide or "acts of genocide."
Over 54,000 people in Gaza have been killed since Israel's campaign began, according to local health officials.
According to the report, Israeli security forces have caused damage to over 70% of the educational buildings in Gaza and Israeli attacks have made conditions for education largely impossible. Over 658,000 Gazan students have had no schooling for a year and a half.
The commission also identified several incidents where Israeli forces burned or demolished schools, "many of which were empty at the time," and the committee says it concluded "such conduct was deliberate and unnecessary and constitutes a violation of the principles of necessity, distinction, precaution, and proportionality under international humanitarian law."
The commission found that Israeli security personnel directed airstrikes against "scores" of educational buildings, and even though civilians were inside those buildings during some of the attacks, Israel did not give them any warning or sufficient advance warning of the strikes, according to the report.
The report states that the commission found "significant evidence" that Israeli security forces used educational facilities as military bases or staging areas for military activity. The commission found one episode in which Hamas' military wing used a school for military aims.
After probing incidents where education facilities were targeted and the attack resulted in civilian casualties, the commission accused Israeli security forces of committing war crimes such as "directing attacks on civilians," and others.
When it comes to attacks on cultural and religious sites, those attacks have "a cascading effect and deeply affects intangible cultural elements, such as religious and cultural practices, memories, and history."
In four out of 10 incidents investigated by the commission related to attacks on cultural and religious sites in Gaza, Israeli security forces said they had "targeted a military objective located within the site" but did not give the commission evidence they could examine to verify that claim, according to the report.
The commission says that Israeli security forces were aware or should have been aware of the location and significance of these sites in Gaza and should have planned their operations with the aim of making sure they were not harmed. "The commission found in relation to all cultural sites investigated that Israeli security forces failed to take special care to avoid damage and protect those sites and their contents," the report states.
In this realm, too, the commission accuses Israeli security forces of several war crimes, such as "intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion and historic monuments" and "destroying the enemy's property without justification that necessitates such destruction."
The report will be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council on June 17, 2025.
A previous report from the same body accused Israel of "systematically" using reproductive, sexual, and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians since October 7, 2023.
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