http://www.business-humanrights.org Tracking the positive and negative impact of over 4000 companies worldwide. en-gb Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:48:16 +0100 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:48:16 +0100 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html Webfactory avery@business-humanrights.org avery@business-humanrights.org http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/907148 The Warri Chapel of the Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ) yesterday demanded a written apology from the Anglo-Dutch oil company, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) over its alleged role in the arrest and detention of journalists at the Utorogun Gas Plant in Delta State. About 15 journalists from several states across the Niger-Delta were last Tuesday while on a working tour of Iwhrekan, an oil producing community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State , arrested by a company of soldiers attached to the JTF [military Joint Task Force]... "We are taken more aback that the JTF was said to have acted at the instance of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) even though SPDC denied the fact that they had a hand in the arrest and detention" [said a statement by Warri Chapel leaders]. Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:46:38 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/907148 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/812638 The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Ceres, a U.S. coalition of environmental and investor groups, today called for submissions to the seventh-annual Ceres-ACCA North American Awards for Sustainability Reporting. The purpose of the awards program is to acknowledge and publicize best practice in reporting on sustainability, environmental and social performance by corporations and organizations and to provide leadership to those companies that are publishing or intend to publish sustainability reports... Last year, Ford Motor Company and the Timberland Company both received the top award for Best Sustainability Report, while Suncor Energy, Inc. was recognized for its climate change disclosure and Dell, Inc. for the company's excellent reporting on product stewardship... The deadline for submissions is October 24, 2008 Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:30:00 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/812638 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/186545 Major Japanese motor companies are planning to establish [six] special economic zone in Myanmar [which is planned to attract direct foreign investmentto promote the country's economic development] to produce motor vehicle spare parts, the leading local weekly Yangon Times reported ThursdayAt present, such Japanese motor companies as Suzuki and Isuzu are cooperating with Myanmar companies in producing motor vehicles, while Toyota and Honda are running motor car service industry in the country. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:55:23 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/186545 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/821769 Despite recent positive steps, discrimination against persons with disabilities continues in China and organizations for the disabled face government pressure and harassment, Human Rights Watch said today on the eve of the September 6 Paralympic Games in Beijing... The Chinese government has in recent years enacted a variety of new laws [protecting the disabled]... Human Rights Watch said that the new laws have not ended discriminatory employment practices... A 2007 survey by the China University of Political Science and Law...revealed that 22 percent of the respondents said their physical disabilities had prompted employers...to reject them for jobs... [Civil] society organizations... particularly those devoted to addressing the needs of China's HIV/AIDS and chronic hepatitis B sufferers, continue to be targets for repression by Chinese security forces suspicious of such groups. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:32:06 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/821769 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/787975 We may have reached a crucial turning point in the history of China's trade union movement. For the first time since 1949, trade union officials are openly stating that the union should represent the workers and no one else, while new legislation in Shenzhen places collective bargaining previously a no-go area at the core of the union's work[T]he regulations are far from perfect; they still emphasize the supervision or control (jiandu) of grassroots unions by higher level unions, rather than a system of mutual supervision Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:27:54 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/787975 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/212951 [Article describes protests and resistance against companies over land use in India, including Tata, Reliance, ArcelorMittal, POSCO, Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa (IDCO), Aditya Birla, Sterlite Industries (part of Vedanta). Includes comments by the companies. Also refers to Utkal aluminium project] Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:22:38 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/212951 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/229815 [I]n the year [after the Olympics] major companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Cisco will face unprecedented scrutiny and legal uncertainties over their behavior in China[In August], the executives of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo fired off lettersstating they had "reached agreement on the core components of the principles" a claim that would not convince many who have followed their lack of progressGoogle ensured that it would not divulge to the Chinese authorities "any sensitive personal information regarding American athletes, journalists and tourists who use the Internet while in China during the Olympics other than required by United States law." This represents an important departure... Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:23:32 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/229815 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/293344 The Decent Work Conference is the result of a partnership between the Financial Times and the Norwegian Government, in cooperation with The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise. The aim of the conference is to address the complexities of a globalising labour market and to contribute to the international debate on how coherent support for the ILO's Decent Work Agenda can help improve economic governance, and promote full employment and decent working conditions around the worldSpeakers include:Mr Juan Somavia, Director General, International Labour Organization Mr Pascal Lamy, Director General, World Trade Organization Mrs Mary Robinson, President, Realizing Rights: Ethical Globalization Initiative Mr Jonas Gahr Store, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway Mr Richard Samans, Managing Director, World Economic Forum Ms Lakshmi Bhatia, Director - Global Partnerships, Social Responsibility, Gap Inc. Moderator:Mr Quentin Peel, International Affairs Editor, Financial Times Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:07:10 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/293344 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/270244 Zinc producer Teck Cominco Ltd has agreed to pay up to $120 million for a wastewater pipeline to settle a lawsuit by Inupiat Eskimo villagers who claimed mine pollution was fouling their drinking water and the fish that are a staple of their diet. The settlementensures that waste from the Red Dog mine in Alaska will bypass the river that is the water and food source for residents...of Kivalina, said Luke Cole, the attorney representing the villagersThe 2004 lawsuit alleged that the Red Dog Mine had thousands of Clean Water Act violations in the late 1990sAttorneys for Vancouver...based Teck Cominco were not immediately available for comment. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:00:10 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/270244 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/818576 Breanna L. Speed waited four years before announcing to her co-workers that she would not be Wendell anymore. She was concerned that the revelation that she felt more comfortable living life as a woman than in the male body she was born with would jeopardize her job at Hewitt Associates...But since...she walked into the office as Breanna...Ms. Speed said she has received nothing but support...Across the country, particularly at larger companies, transgender workers are being protected and assisted in ways that were hardly imaginable a few years ago. Currently, 125 of the Fortune 500 companies include gender identity in their nondiscrimination policies, compared with close to zero in 2002, according to Jillian T. Weiss [professor at Ramapo College]...The level of acceptance can also be measured by the efforts made to recruit transgender workers...Dr. Weiss...attributes the change...mostly to the work of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization in the nation. [also refers to General Motors] Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:27:48 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/818576 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/895360 La UGT de Navarra ha detectado la existencia de riesgo por exposicion a agentes quimicos en un 89% de las empresas del sector industrial visitadas por el sindicato, que denuncia que en la Comunidad Foral no se informa suficientemente a los trabajadores sobre esta cuestion...El estudio...senala que los procedimientos de trabajo seguro solo estan visibles en los puestos de trabajo en un 55% de las empresas y en un 66% de las mismas estan senalizados los equipos de proteccion individual...en un 47% de los casos la empresa habia informado a los trabajadores sobre los riesgos quimicos... Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:06:46 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/895360 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/179048 Judge Oberdorfer of the District of Columbiaruled that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to decide whetherExxon should be held liable for the actions of Indonesian soldiers who, while guarding Exxon assets, committed human rights abuses. [Exxon's] Arun Project was based in Aceh. In the 1980's the Gerekan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) or the Free Aceh Movement was seeking independence for the region and as a result the Suharto Government declared the region 'an area of special military operations'.[U]nits of the [Indonesia military] were hired to provide security for [Exxon's] operations. It is the actions of these hired military units that this case is based around. [also refers to Pertamina, Japanese-Indonesia Liquid Natural Gas Company] Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:22:22 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/179048 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/508238 International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Responsibilities for Human Rights, and International Law 6-7 November 2008 ... The overall topic of this conference will be the possible directions of the future interrelationship between CSR, Business Responsibilities for Human Rights, and regulatory approaches under and/or informed by international law. The Final Report of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Human Rights and Business (SRSG, Professor John Ruggie)...will form a point of departure... Key note speakers - Mads Ovlisen, member of the board of the UN Global Compact and former CEO of Novo Nordisk (confirmed); and Chris Sidoti, former director, ISHR (International Service for Human Rights), Geneva and former Human Rights Commissioner of Australia (confirmed)...Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:26:17 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/508238 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/153789 Friday, October 3, 2008 - 12:00 PM to 02:00 PM... This Workshop for Ethics in Business luncheon will examine the intersection of Web 2.0 technologies and the effort to hold corporations to account for both the harms and benefits they create... global challenges such as climate change, energy policy, poverty, access to education, and human rights exist where business and society overlap. Web 2.0 has the potential to enable meaningful dialogue, collaboration, and problem solving between companies and their stakeholders. Will it rise to meet the challenge?... Participants include John Abell of wired.com; James Farrar of SAP; Gerhard Pohl of Development Gateway Foundation; Emily Polk of CSRwire.com; Steve Rochlin of AccountAbility; Devin Stewart of Carnegie Council...Location: Global Policy Innovations, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, 170 East 64th Street, New York, NY Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:08:31 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/153789 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/267804 The number of women holding senior posts in politics, the law and the media has fallen compared with last yearThe Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said that in 12 of 25 job categories it studied, there were fewer women holding top posts...The EHRC said its annual study of women in top positions of power and influence across public and private sectors showed the biggest number of reversals since the report was started five years ago. Nicola Brewer, the chief executive of the EHRC, said: "...There is a bit of discrimination still going on and that still needs to be challenged..." Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:19:33 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/267804 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/402825 Sonjica vs Spoor - it's a classic showdown that has rural villagers and traditional leaders on the Wild Coast tackling the South African government for not protecting their land against mining practices which they consider exploitative and rapacious...Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica...recently approved plans by...Mineral Resource Commodities, to start stripping coastal dunes along South Africa's pristine Wild Coast of titanium-enriched minerals...[Lawyer for the community, Richard] Spoor said the case now being taken to the High Court, and possibly the Constitutional Court, would essentially be asking whose rights are more important: a corporation's right to exploit mineral resources for the benefit of an elite few, or rights of thousands of people powerless in the face of the buying power of the mining industry and questionable government decisions, such as the Xolobeni mining deal. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:12:47 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/402825 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/204426 The Ministry of Labour of the Republic of Liberia, in partnership with...Realising Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative and the International Labour Organization will convene a high-level forum on promoting Decent Work in Africa from 8-9 September 2008 in Monrovia...The two-day forum will serve primarily as a platform where participants will review and share policies and programmes for realizing decent work at the national level. It will encourage concrete plans...for taking forward the decent work agenda in...Africa, said Mary Robinson...whose Every Human Has Rights campaign marking the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is featuring the theme of Decent Work in September. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:11:32 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/204426 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/308914 ...unos 200 mil [ninos en Argentina] son obligados a salir a trabajar, dejando de lado el juego, los deportes y la educacion. En este sentido, el gobierno de Cristina Kirchner prometio erradicar la explotacion de ninos para el 2015...se estima que el 6,5 por ciento de los menores de 5 a 13 anos trabaja...mientras que entre los jovenes de 14 a 17 anos, el 20,1% cumple tareas laborales...segun una encuesta oficial elaborada en 2006, la ultima realizada...El gobierno se comprometio a erradicar el trabajo infantil para 2015, en el marco de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio... Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:56:36 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/308914 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/766576 An International Labor Organization (ILO) official has repudiated allegations made by [an] Egyptian daily...that the ILO is planning to take punitive measures against Egypt. The article...claims that the ILO is disdainful of the Ministry of Manpower's ignoring of recommendations concerning violations of workers' rights in Egypt and state interference in trade union affairs....an anonymous source [is quoted] as saying, Egypt is threatened with the imposition of economic sanctions......This is simply untrue, an ILO official based in the Cairo field office [said]...The ILO does not issue 'blacklists"......During the June meeting in Geneva, Egypt was given until November 2009 to study and respond to the remarks made to it, he continued. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:52:58 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/766576 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/877513 All too often, politicians and businessmen have said to me: "You're a businessman, so surely you're opposed to the green agenda?"...[T]his is...muddled thinking...[I]f we want long-term growth, we must go greenonly by acting now on cutting emissions will we save money in the futureIf climate change is to be tackled successfully, we need a new framework in which governments, business and consumers each play their part...Businesshas a crucial leadership role to play in empowering consumers, by overcoming barriers of price, incentivising customers to buy greener products, providing better information and innovating through new products and services. If consumers are able to purchase lower-carbon products and services, they will reward the businesses that produce these products... Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:40:06 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/877513 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/145326 Production of the Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car, has been suspended indefinitely amid reports of more disturbances at the factory. Tata Motors has decided to look for alternative manufacturing sites after violent protests by farmers in West Bengal where the plant is located. Farmers want the return of 400 acres of land purchased to build the plant. Tata said the situation at the plant was "hostile and intimidating"The opposition Trinamul Congress party, which has been leading the protests, said they were not seeking Tata's withdrawal from the areaBut they said the land on which the plant in Singur is being built had been forcibly acquired from "unwilling" farmers Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:19:41 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/145326 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/756311 El lider del Frente para Defensa de la Amazonia (FEDAM) y ultimo Premio Goldman, Pablo Fajardo, reclama a la antigua compania petrolifera Texaco (actual Chevron Texaco) que repare los danos medioambientales y humanos que causo en la Amazonia Ecuatoriana...Fajardo...hizo estas declaraciones en una rueda de prensa...[y] apunto que "se han producido mas de 500 muertes por cancer y han mermado los habitantes de muchas de la comunidades indigenas que habitan la zona..."...Fajardo recordo que FEDAM denuncio ante los tribunales a Texaco en 1993 y este ano, aunque todavia no hay una sentencia clara, han logrado un dictamen...en el que se asegura que para reparar el dano que la petrolera causo en el Amazonas tendrian que pagar entre 8.000 y 16.000 millones de euros..."Lo que nosotros queremos no es dinero para uso personal, sino que la empresa repare el dano ecologico y la perdida del legado cultural ecuatoriano, al acabar con pueblos indigenas", apunto. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:16:06 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/756311 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/583882 Manpowerannounced today that it has been named one of PINK magazine's 2008 "Top Companies for Women," and is the only employment services firm named to the list. PINK'sannual rankingrecognizes the prominent role of women at Manpower, particularly in top leadership rolesToday, as country managers, senior and executive vice presidents, and board directors, women lead the way in many of Manpower's most influential management roles. Women comprise 40 percent of the company's Executive Management Team and 43 percent of country managers worldwide are women. Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:40:40 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/583882 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/432237 Solo 167 companias en todo el mundo han adoptado de forma oficial y explicita politicas de proteccion de los derechos humanos, segun un estudio recien publicado por el Centro de Informacion sobre Negocios y Derechos Humanos (Bhrrc, por sus siglas en ingles)Mary Robinson, presidenta del Bhrrc y ex Alta comisionada de Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos, animo a "todas las empresas a sumarse a este grupo"Por ello, y con motivo del 60 aniversario de la firma de la declaracion de los derechos del hombreRobinson ha dirigido una misiva a los integrantes decompanias de renombre mundial para que "adopten politicas de proteccion de los derechos humanos". Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:55:31 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/432237 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/716804 The Human Rights Campaign Foundation today released the seventh annual Corporate Equality Index, which rates 583 businesses on a scale from 0 to 100 percent on their treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. The 2009 edition of the CEI reports 259 businesses achieved a perfect score, a one-third increase over last year when the number was 195[refers to Shell, Cardinal] Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:48:16 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/716804