Press release - Serious human rights violations continue at the Mozambique LNG project Complaint filed with the Japan and the UK NCP on Japanese companies' violations of the OECD Guidelines

Serious human rights violations continue at the Mozambique LNG project Complaint filed with the Japan and the UK NCP on Japanese companies’ violations of the OECD Guidelines

5th of June, 2026
Justiça Ambiental (JA!)/ FoE Mozambique
Friends of the Earth Japan

Today, Justiça Ambiental (JA!)/ FoE Mozambique (based in Mozambique) and the international environmental NGO FoE Japan (based in Japan) submitted a complaint to the Japan and the UK National Contact Points (NCPs) on the Mozambique LNG project. This project is currently under development in northern Mozambique in which serious human rights violations and environmental damage have been reported. Japanese companies involved in this project are allegedly violating the “OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct.” This OECD complaint mechanism enables us to identify various negative impacts caused by the company’s activities and raise concerns so that NCPs can call for responsible actions to companies.

The complaint was filed against the second biggest investor of the project (20%), Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area 1 Ltd. (MEPMOZ, registered in the UK), a joint venture between Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and the Japanese Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC). The complaint insists mainly on its adverse impacts on environmental damages and human rights abuses brought by the project. Human rights violations include the unresolved issue of compensation for affected communities by resettlement, the lack of the measure for restoration of livelihoods, and allegations of massacres committed by security forces responsible for the project.
Civil society organizations from around the world, including the two organizations that filed the complaint, have repeatedly sent letters to companies and financial institutions involved in the project, including the two Japanese companies mentioned above, demanding that they strengthen their due diligence, disclose information, and withdraw from the project. However, because these concerns have not been adequately addressed, and no mitigation or improvement has been made, we have submitted a complaint this time against the Japanese companies.

The OECD Guidelines take into account the impact that multinational corporations have on the ground and the global environment as a whole. This guideline indicates the expected corporate behaviors, including information disclosure, human rights, employment and the environment sections. In particular, the complaint submitted today highlights breaches of the guidelines by Japanese companies regarding “Respect for human rights (Chapter 4, Human Rights, Section 1)," “Carry out human rights due diligence as appropriate to their size, the nature and context of operations and the severity of the risks (same chapter, Section 5)," and “a) climate change (Chapter 6, Environment)" and “b) biodiversity loss (same chapter)."

There have been several movements on this project in other project-related countries as well. In November 2025, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filed a criminal complaint against the project operator TotalEnergies in France, for “complicity in war crimes, torture and enforced disappearance" by directly having financed Joint Task Force (JTF) that it had engaged in the protection of the project site.
Furthermore, in December 2025, the UK and the Netherlands Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), which had been providing financial support, withdrew from the project after recognizing the increasing risks associated with the project. A human rights investigation report commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Finance was also published, highlighting numerous instances of repeated violence against civilians by security forces responsible for the project’s security.

As calls spread across the countries to demand companies and financial institutions involved in the project to conduct proper due diligence and withdraw from the Mozambique LNG project, Japanese stakeholders are also required to act responsibly in accordance with international standards, including the OECD Guidelines.

“The Mozambique LNG project constitutes a true carbon bomb, with the potential to further worsen the already precarious living conditions of affected communities in Mozambique, one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. This reality is compounded by allegations of human rights violations linked to the project that remain inadequately addressed, undermining communities’ trust in state institutions.

In this context, continued financing of the project following its restart poses a serious risk of perpetuating environmental, social, and human rights impacts that have already been widely documented. We therefore call for sound judgment, robust due diligence, and strict compliance with environmental, social, and human rights safeguards. Ignoring these concerns could render financiers and other stakeholders complicit in, or jointly responsible for, the continued harm and injustices suffered by affected communities,” says Kete Fumo, National Coordinator of the Gas Campaign at Justiça Ambiental (JA!).

“The Mozambique LNG project, in which approximately 30% of the production is expected to be imported into Japan, involves numerous Japanese public and private sector entities, including financial support. While Mozambique has been included in the diversification of energy supply sources due to recent geopolitical risks, we must not rely on fossil fuels without considering the serious negative impacts of human rights abuses and environmental destruction happening on the ground. The Japanese entities should fulfill their accountability and withdraw from this project as soon as possible," says Mayuko Sato, campaigner at FoE Japan.

Contacts
FoE Japan
Mayuko Sato : sato@foejapan.org
Ayumi Fukakusa : fukakusa@foejapan.org
Notes
– The complaint against Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area 1 Ltd. (MEPMOZ, a UK- registered company), a joint venture between Mitsui & Co. and the Japanese Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC), was jointly filed with the UK NCP by JA! (FoE Mozambique) and FoE Japan. Separate complaints against the parent companies, Mitsui & Co. and JOGMEC, have also been filed with the Japan NCP.
– Information on advocacy activities regarding Mozambique LNG by NGOs and civil society organizations, including FoE Japan, can be found here. https://foejapan.org/issue/tag2/mozambique-lng/
– For information on the criminal complaint filed against TotalEnergies by ECCHR, please see here:
https://www.ecchr.eu/en/press-release/totalenergies-faces-criminal-complaint-for-complicity-in-war-crimes-torture-and-enforced-disappearance-in-mozambique/
– For the human rights investigation report commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Finance, please see here:　
Clingendael. “Human rights violations by Mozambican security forces in the context of the Mozambique LNG project.” 1/12/2025 https://www.clingendael.org/publication/human-rights-violations-mozambican-security-forces-context-mozambique-lng-project