http://www.business-humanrights.org Tracking the positive and negative impact of over 4000 companies worldwide. en-gb Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:35:27 +0100 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:35:27 +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/267521 The British Government has found DAS Air, a UK-based air cargo company, in breach of the OECD Guidelines on corporate conduct for its part in transporting minerals from rebel-held areas of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), a human rights non-governmental organization, which brought a complaint against the company welcomed the government's findings. [also refers to De Beers, Avient, Oryx Natural Resources] Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:14:11 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/267521 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/649307 Wal-Mart, a leading corporate advocate of diversity in the legal profession, is deploying new software to keep a watchful eye on its law firms and make sure the attorneys working on its matters are diverse... Miguel Rivera, Wal-Mart's associate general counsel for outside counsel management...[said] Wal-Mart...will drop law firms that don't meet diversity benchmarks, he said... The company works with 500 law firms on a regular basis and another 300 periodically. "We severed relationships with four firms because we didn't think they had the commitment," Rivera [said]... "[Companies are] insisting firms not just use diversity to get the work, but firms must illustrate the involvement of diverse attorneys on their accounts," said Fort Lauderdale attorney Eugene Pettis. [also refers to Marriott, Sara Lee, General Mills, DuPont] Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:48:47 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/649307 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/824797 A leading U.S. trailer manufacturer failed to disclose to Hurricane Katrina evacuees or the government its internal findings that formaldehyde in some units exceeded a federal health standard by as much as 45 times in 2006, its chairman acknowledged to Congress yesterday. Jim Shea, chairman of Gulf Stream Coach [part of Fairmont Homes], which built 50,000 trailers for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said his company decided that its results were "irrelevant information" because FEMA already knew about high formaldehyde levels In hindsight Gulf Stream should have shared information from its sampling, Shea said... The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...identified...Gulf Stream, Forest River [part of Berkshire Hathaway], Keystone [part of Thor Industries] and Pilgrim International...as having significant problems. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:32:10 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/824797 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/678528 Nigeria's oil industry is beset with corruption. The result is higher oil prices and widespread human rights abuses... In the Niger Delta the rampant violence is just a symptom of a deeper problem: rampant corruption. Since at least 2003, politicians from the ruling People's Democratic party, determined to maintain their control of oil revenues, have directly fuelled escalating violence in the Niger Delta and elsewhere in Nigeria... [O]rdinary Nigerians derive precious little benefit from this tremendous [oil] wealth. Abject poverty in Rivers State ranks among the worst in the world... Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:35:36 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/678528 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/324646 Industries must design and plan a mechanism by which they can contribute to reduce environmental pollution, the Addis Ababa City Administration Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) urged...The authority said it was empirical that the industries do so as their waste products have direct impact on the well being of the natural resource, environment, people, and animals... Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:59:45 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/324646 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/622332 The Clinton Foundation announced Thursday that it had brokered an agreement among several drug makers that it hopes will assure a steady supply of a crucial malaria medicine at reasonable prices for the world's poor... In 2004, when international donors agreed to pay for artemisinin-based drug cocktails, the price of the raw material soared... Novartis, then the only company with an artemisinin-based drug approved by the World Health Organization, absorbed the losses, and generic drug makers were scared away from the field... The complex deal announced Thursday includes two Chinese suppliers of artemisinin, two Indian companies that process it into derivatives like artesunate, and two more Indian companies, Cipla and Ipca Laboratories, that produce finished pills. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:36:23 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/622332 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/323139 The OECD favours a moratorium on expanding biofuel production, a senior official with the Paris-based body said on Wednesday following the release of a report critical of vegetable-based fuels... The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in a study published Wednesday found that costly public support for biofuel production has but a limited impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and on improving energy security. At the same time, according to the report, development of the biofuel sector "will contribute to higher food prices over the medium term and to food insecurity for the most vulnerable populations in developing countries." Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:21:33 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/323139 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/544559 Jitu Jakeskia, a young Dongria Kondh activist...[says] "Niyamgiri mountain is the most important place for Dongria Kondh people..."... But an arm of the mining giant Vedanta Resources...wants the minerals from Niyamgiri hill... Critics say mining the hills may cause severe environmental damage, and could disrupt the Dongria's way of life...[M]ining can't begin until India's Supreme Court has given its clearance... Orissa is one of India's poorest states, but also one of the richest in natural resources, so the government is keen to tap its potential... Vedanta says all the claims are false. There won't be irreversible damage to the environment. It says it will only mine the surface 10-15 metres down in selected areas in the hills and then fill in the holes when it is finished. "I don't think any plant can have better environmental standards than we have," Dr Mukesh Kumar told me. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:42:49 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/544559 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/812754 [T]hree years on, both Marks & Spencer and...The Shell Foundation believe their decision to join forces has resulted in the development of a highly scalable business model for fair-trade supply chains. Through the partnership, M&S has developed two new sustainable supply chains one sourcing fair-trade cotton from more than 1,500 Indian farmers and the other sourcing bouquets of wild flowers harvested by workers from poor communities in South Africa...Marks & Spencer head of CSR Mike Barry outlines the reasons behind the high street giant's decision to collaborate with The Shell Foundation. "The key thing we wanted to do was explore how we could use our supply chains. Not just manage them well, but promote trade and create sustainable livelihoods to see if we could action a real, positive difference. It's very easy to focus on good compliance, but we had an ambition to go beyond that," he says. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:00:40 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/812754 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/964030 A year on from the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive in the U.K., critics claim that a number of compliance schemes are on the brink of failure and that many organizations are failing to embrace initiatives designed to promote re-use of IT equipment. The WEEE directive entered U.K. law last July with the aim of minimizing the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of WEEE going to landfill... However, BERR [Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform] defended WEEE's record, claiming that the first compliance period had always been intended to develop the necessary infrastructure and achieve E.U. collection targets... Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:16:00 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/964030 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/218414 The volume of investments and financial contributions of the Angolan state-owned oil company (Sonangol) towards development reflect its commitment to the countrys growth, ANGOP learnt on Tuesday here from the administrator of the company, Sianga Abilio... He said, among other initiatives, the company is investing in sectors such as health, by building health centres like the "Girassol" hospital. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/218414 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/394955 Epidemic looms in Ukhun community near Ekpoma in Edo State, following oil spillage from burst NNPC [Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.] pipeline conveying refined petroleum products from Warri to Kaduna. The spillage, according the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), has polluted River Ibhie, said to be the only source of water for the community. Residents said the spillage which started over two years ago has polluted the river, killed the fishes and rendered aquatic activities in the river useless. The burst pipe had defied solution from officials of NNPC who had repeatedly carried out repair works on the burst pipe to no avail. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/394955 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/528545 The Shibuya mayor and Nike Corporation will convert a public park into a Nike Park that will mean forcibly evicting homeless people staying there... 34 homeless people living in tents in Miyashita Park (Tokyo, Shibuya) are faced to be evicted as the below, because the city is currently moving ahead with plans to fully renovate Miyashita Park and make it Nike Park. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:32:11 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/528545 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/437550 Thirty-seven demonstrators were arrested after about 1000 people halted trains in Newcastle yesterday in a protest against the coal industry's role in climate change... "All rail movements were stopped because many protesters breached the perimeters and got on the trains," said Port Waratah spokesman, Matthew Watson... The demonstration marked the third time in less than a fortnight that coal industry operations near Newcastle had been disrupted by protests against the industry's role in climate change. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:07:19 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/437550 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/830158 A HIV-positive Kenyan woman has won $35,000 in a landmark ruling against her employer for unfair dismissal...Jacqueline Adhiambo Ongur, a 45-year-old waitress, also sued her doctor for revealing her HIV status without her consent...Mrs Ongur's former employer, Home Park Caterers, said the company had not requested a medical test, and was not aware of her status when she was sacked. But the former waitress told the court that her letter of termination said she had been sacked on medical grounds, and for being unable to perform her duties...The court declared that testing employees or prospective employees for HIV without consent constituted an invasion of privacy and was unlawful. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:01:02 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/830158 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/961841 Employees of a Wal-Mart outlet in [Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province,] northeast China signed a collective contract with the retailing giant late Monday night, the first among Wal-Mart's 100-odd stores across China[The] proposal [was raised] by its trade union to raise employees' salary by an annual rate of 8 percent in 2008 and 2009, according to the city's trade union. Other agreements included the standard of minimum salary, paid vacation, social security treatment and payment for overworking. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:24:10 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/961841 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/692634 As part of our commitment to providing the most relevant contemporary human rights information to companies, the Human Rights & Business Project has undertaken a complete update and redesign of the China Country Risk Assessment. The full CRAcompiles detailed information on Chinese law, common labour practices, international regulations, risk proximity to company operations and management recommendations. The conditions under each right of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been thoroughly researched, with a focus on the implementation of relevant legislation and the conditions of vulnerable social groups. Policy and practice recommendations drawn from our experience advising companies in China are included under each rightFor full pricing information or to purchase the report, contact Mike Baab at mba@humanrights.dk Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:38:09 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/692634 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/818257 A Review Essay on the 2008 report of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and Transnational corporations and other business enterprises, Professor John Ruggie to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:15:51 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/818257 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/204376 [Response by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of Anglo American, to questions by Matthew Lee from Inner City Press] I understand that you are questioning the basis for Anglo American's investment in building a platinum mine in Zimbabwe and asking what posture a company should adopt in dealing with a government which many people regard as illegitimate...It is certainly not clear to me or the board of Anglo American that it would be a net gain for human rights if we were to [suspend the project]At the same timea withdrawal is in fact likely in the present circumstances to be of direct financial benefit to the governmentI think the key test that a company has to apply to its operations is whether it can do business whilst continuing to observe international norms and its own business principles Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:06:14 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/204376 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/361128 Alors que la Halde a suscite la polemique en revelant les resultats d'un testing surprise parmi des entreprises du CAC 40, Casino a choisi de publier les resultats de son auto-testing , lance il y a un an. Les 1600 tests realises montrent une importante difference de traitement entre les candidats d'origine hexagonale et ceux evoquant une origine extra-europeenne . [mentionne egalement Accor, Credit Agricole, Mercuri Urval] Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:30:40 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/361128 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/910373 Consumers...visit the www.loveearthinfo.com site to view the management supply chain of their piece of jewelry from the mining and processing of gold and silver..., then processed into gold and silver..., on to Aurafin's jewelry design and manufacturing facilities...and finally shipped to Wal-Mart... Aurafin is a brand of Richline Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway... [The] more significant breakthrough as far as gold miners may be concerned is the selection of Newmont Mining [for the Love, Earth line]... Newmont uses cyanide in its gold processing, but is also one of the first signatories to the International Cyanide Management Code... [O]fficers from both Conservation International, which is a partner in the Wal-Mart Love, Earth program, and Earthworks...said they both believe that adherence...to the International Cyanide Management Code is helping to protect the environment from cyanide used in mining processes. [also refers to Kennecott Utah Copper (part of Rio Tinto), Tiffany, Sam's Club (part of Wal-Mart)] Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:12:08 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/910373 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/520190 ...[As] international companies move into ever more remote and politically risky countries, they sometimes tread on the toes of miners who have worked that land for years. Alternatively, the mining conglomerates' trucks and cranes can act as magnets that draw small-scale miners to a previously unexplored area. Whatever the dynamic, the result can be explosive... The intense battle for resources is sometimes causing violent clashes between multinational companies and what some industry officials call "cowboys."... In Ghana,...illegal miners...have disrupted operations in several mines and are costing companies millions of dollars... "They are not poor locals," said Chris Anderson, director of corporate and external affairs in Africa for the mining giant Newmont.. "The tragedy in all this is that the smaller miner is not being lifted out of poverty," said Paul Hollesen, vice president of environment and community affairs at AngloGold Ashanti. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:22:15 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/520190 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/703649 El Consejo de Derechos Humanos voto el mes pasado para prorrogar el mandato del Representante Especial sobre los Derechos Humanos y Negocios, John Ruggie [por tres anos mas]...para examinar la relacion entre los derechos humanos y la actividad corporativa y proponer soluciones sobre los medios para garantizar el Deber del Estado de proteger, la Responsabilidad Corporativa de Respetar y hacer mas eficaz el acceso para las victimas de violaciones perpetradas por las empresas. La Resolucion de la ONU hace ocho peticiones concretas a Ruggie... Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:18:37 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/703649 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/799140 On 1 July 2008 SweatFree Communities released a report called Subsidizing Sweatshops which alleged severe human rights violations in factories used by companies that supply public employee uniforms to the USA federal government. The report makes allegations against the following companies:- Blauer Manufacturing - Bob Barker Company - Cintas Corp. - Eagle Industries - Has provided a response- Fechheimer Brothers - The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has invited a response - Lion Apparel - Has provided a response- Propper International - The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has invited a response - Rocky Brands - Williamson-DickieThis page contains links to the full report and articles detailing the allegations and company responses. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:30:57 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/799140 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/740706 The extension of maternity leave to up to a year may be sabotaging women's careers, the head of the new equality watchdog has warned. Nicola Brewer, chief executive of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, said some employers were thinking twice about offering women jobs or promotionMs Brewer said current laws, introduced from April 2007, had unintentionally made "women a less attractive prospect to employers"...Stephen Alambritis from the Federation of Small Businessessaid that although it was illegal to discriminate against women of child-bearing age, he had heard anecdotally that a few small businesses would not employ such women. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:35:27 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/740706