http://www.business-humanrights.org Tracking the positive and negative impact of over 4000 companies worldwide. en-gb Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:28:46 +0100 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:28:46 +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/534162 In August, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre...asked three Israeli companies to respond to a report by an Israeli non-governmental organization that protested the treatment of Palestinian workers at West Bank settlement industrial parks...Amongst the companies whose labor practices were criticized in the Kav LaOved report was Royalnight, a textile manufacturer owned by Royalife...Royalnight's sheet sets, bed skirts, quilted blankets, and decorated pillows are exported to and marketed in the United States and Europe. According to Kav LaOved...Palestinian workers...have to work under poor health and safety conditions at Royalnight's textile plant...Royalife replied..."All complaints are not correct..."...The dire economic situation means more Palestinians are forced to seek work in Israel's illegal settlements, where they are vulnerable to exploitation. [also refers to Barkan Wineries] Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:49:44 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/534162 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/147216 FOCO...es una organizacion social que funciona en Argentina como punto focal de la campana mundial Llamamiento a la accion: trabajo decente para una vida decente, cuyos objetivos principales son sensibilizar a ciudadanos, representantes politicos y principales instituciones sobre el trabajo decente y demostrar que el trabajo decente es la unica estrategia sostenible para salir de la pobreza y construir una democracia...Por su parte, Olga Hammar...alerto sobre la gravedad de la brecha salarial entre hombres y mujeres para igual trabajo, que hoy alcanza el 25%...Elina Stewart destaco que todavia hoy, muchas empresas no contratan a mujeres porque pueden quedar embarazadas o porque son quienes deben ausentarse en caso de que los hijos se enfermen. Por este motivo, manifesto que alcanzar la igualdad de genero, como condicion para alcanzar el trabajo decente, es una gran asignatura pendiente para las empresas. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:43:15 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/147216 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/554645 I commend CPR for its many contributions to promoting alternative dispute resolution techniques and tools. And I congratulate Microsoft on receiving the annual leadership award for its commitment to institutionalizing ADR into its corporate and industry culture. ADR is a promising approach for dealing expeditiously and effectively with conflict, not only in the workplace and B2B sphere. I'll turn in a moment to how it might play out in my world of business and human rights by helping to resolve disputes there, especially between companies and communities...Here is [an] example. A large commodity mining company in Africa, a subsidiary of a transnational firm, reports to its parent that all is well because it has won six of the seven lawsuits brought against it by local communities...But executives at the parent company are deeply puzzled, because with each lawsuit won the local dispute seems to escalate, not decline, while the parent company's international reputation is taking ever bigger hits...The lesson to be drawn from these cases is this: a serious misalignment exists in each instance between legal requirements and prevailing social expectations... Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:05:42 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/554645 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/329471 [S]ix miners were killed due to methane blast at Duvannaya mine belonging to Krasnodonvuhillia coal company in Sukhodolsk, Luhansk regionThe explosion took lives of six miners, other 113 miners were evacuated. Causes and circumstances of the accident are being investigated. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:45:31 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/329471 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/974973 La Comision Independiente de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) de Morelos exigio al gobierno estatal no dar un manejo tendencioso de los apoyos laborales, y emplazo a los empresarios a respetar los derechos de sus trabajadores y no escudarse en el movimiento magisterial para evadir sus responsabilidades...Una queja constante de los propietarios de negocios en el centro de Cuernavaca ha sido que el planton de maestros ha generado una serie de perdidas economicas...[Jose Martinez Cruz, presidente de la CIDH dijo]......durante mucho tiempo han trabajado bajo condicione desventajosas y con el pretexto del paro magisterial se les despide sin respetar sus derechos laborales. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:32:00 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/974973 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/635715 US coffee-shop chain Starbucks has defended itself against claims of a serious waste of water by leaving taps running in its stores all day. A spokeswoman said the purpose was to clean utensils and the policy meant the company met health standards. But environmental groups have criticised the practice, accusing Starbucks of wasting millions of litres of water every day... Starbucks says although it recognises that there are opportunities to reduce its water usage, it does comply with United Nations standards, and it has to balance water conservation with the need for customer safety... But environmental groups said they were shocked at what they said was serious water wasteage. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:14:00 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/635715 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/619511 United Nations Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner joined the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) today to announce the first-ever globally relevant sustainable tourism criteria at the IUCN World Conservation Congress... Available at www.SustainableTourismCriteria.org, the criteria focus on four areas...: maximizing tourism's social and economic benefits to local communities; reducing negative impacts on cultural heritage; reducing harm to local environments; and planning for sustainability. [refers to Choice Hotels, Expedia, Travelocity/Sabre] Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/619511 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/360368 Ramallah's Al-Haq human rights organization penned an open letter...to praise the decision of Barkan Wineries to divest from illegal Israeli settlements in Barkan...As a Palestinian human rights organisation...Al-Haq welcomes the decision by Barkan Wineries...an Israeli subsidiary of Tempo Beer Industry Ltd. Drinks, to remove its activities from the industrial zone of the illegal settlement of Barkan, in the northern West Bank, and transfer them into Israel. This divestment conclusion is a result of positive developments in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), including...by the Dutch consumers; Heineken N.V. (who have a 40% share in Tempo Beer Industry Ltd.); and the Dutch government...In the [Occupied Palestinian Territories], not only are the human rights of the Palestinians systematically violated for the express benefit of the settler population but additionally under the Fourth Geneva Convention, an Occupying Power is prohibited, in the first place, from transferring part of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies...Therefore, any company which operates within the illegal settlement system is complicit with violations of international humanitarian law. Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:21:26 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/360368 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/117374 A un ano del accidente ocurrido en la plataforma Usumacinta [propiedad de Perforadora Central], las condiciones de los trabajadores asignados a actividades de perforacion y produccion de crudo en la Sonda de Campeche van en detrimento. La creciente inseguridad, explotacion y acoso los ubica en las peores condiciones laborales de los paises petroleros del mundo...El saldo [de aquel accidente] fue de 23 trabajadores muertos...Al cabo de los meses ni Perforadora Central ni el resto de las arrendadoras [Mexico Drilling, Pride, Nabors, Mexdrill Offshore, Noble, Goimar] disciplinaron sus sistemas de seguridad; peor aun, menguaron abruptamente las condiciones laborales...el Centro de Accion y Reflexion Laboral [coloca a estas empresas] entre las companias de mayor incidencia en injusticias y violaciones a las leyes laborales...[E]n mayo de 2004 algunos...trabajadores llegaron al Senado...para revelar...modelos de trabajo como el de los peones acasillados...escudados en la omision de los funcionarios de Pemex y los de la Secretaria del Trabajo...El salario depende de la nacionalidad...Si un trabajador enferma mientras esta a bordo de la plataforma, el gerente de la compania le advierte que si baja a tierra perdera el empleo. [se refiere tambien a Perforadora Dolphin Mexicana, parte de Dolphin Drilling Limited] Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:49:14 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/117374 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/690336 Stakeholders in the mining sector within the sub-region are putting in place a harmonized mining code that will ensure that respective countries maximize the full benefit of their natural resources...At a three-day workshop in Accra...which was aimed at seeking civil society input into the drafting of the ECOWAS Mining Code...Director of [Wassa Communities against Mining] Daniel Owusu Koranteng, said that the introduction of a common code would help raise the standards of mining across the sub-region. He indicated that with such a code no country in the sub-region would be compelled to lower its standards to attract investors. Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:28:12 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/690336 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/842337 On 22 September, schoolchildren aged 13 and over were sent to cotton fields in Fergana Region[T]he country's government is again trying to deny forced child labour cases in the countryLocal residents said that the government's attempt not to involve children in this year's cotton-harvesting campaign had turned into repressive measures against other groups of population. A local woman said government officials had visited her at home and warned that she would not be able to receive 41,000 sums as a child benefit for her 12-month-old baby unless she picked cotton. Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:04:14 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/842337 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/423996 Being a trade union organiser in bottling plants used by Coca-Cola in Colombia is a dangerous business - they are prime targets for death squads. Can Coke be held responsible?...Sinaltrainal [Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos]claim[s] seven trade unionists have been killed by paramilitaries, the bottlers have links with the paras, and the bottlers are accused of union-busting, intimidation and harassment of workers...To this day the Coca-Cola Company itself has not investigated the alleged links of Colombian bottling plant managers with the paramilitaries. From the outset, the company's Atlanta headquarters denied "any connection to any human-rights violations" and distanced itself from the bottlers, saying, "The Coca-Cola Company does not own or operate any bottling plants in Colombia."...In..2001 [Sinaltral]...brought a lawsuit in the US against the Coca-Cola company and its Colombian bottlers...[A] result is expected...in 2009. [also refers to Bebidas y Alimentos, Panamco (part of Coca-Cola FEMSA, Gap, Nike] Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:30:07 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/423996 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/754709 Open Society Foundation-London...(part of the Soros Foundations Network)...Publish What You Pay (PWYP) is an international coalition of civil society organisations working in over 50 countries calling for the mandatory disclosure of company payments and government revenues from the oil, gas, and mining sector...Job purpose: To support and help facilitate the PWYP campaign through coalition building and outreach reinforcement of national coalitions, and capacity-building for members. [deadline 29th October 2008] Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:13:22 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/754709 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/953166 Skype [part of eBay]said on Thursday that TOM Online Inc, majority owners of Skype's Chinese venture TOM-Skype, had been monitoring and storing some of its users' text messages without Skype's knowledge. Skype apologized after a report [by University of Toronto Citizen Lab] revealed that the Web service monitors text chats with politically sensitive keywords and stores them along with millions of personal user records on computers that could be easily accessed by anybody, including the Chinese governmentTOM Group, parent company ofTOM Online, saidthat it follows Chinese regulations. Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:59:49 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/953166 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/364509 Recopilacion de notas sobre la situacion de los agrocombustibles en Guatemala, donde se analiza su costo social y ambiental. Se analiza la situacion particularmente de la palma y la jatropha, y se da informacion sobre un prestamo del BID para desarrollar una estrategia de biocombustibles en el pais. Guatemala: deforestacion y desplazamientos por agrocombustibles (1)...Ingenio Guadalupe, una de las empresas productoras de etanol del pais, ha estado deforestando en tierras indigenas...[indigenas] fueron atacados por paramilitares asociados a la compania......[E]n enero de este ano, el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), aprobo una financiacion que habilita al gobierno guatemalteco a desarrollar una estrategia nacional de agrocombustibles. Eso inevitablemente se traducira en mas deforestacion, mas apropiacion de tierras, mas desplazamientos forzosos, mas violacion de los derechos de las comunidades indigenas...La palma en Guatemala (2)...Entre las empresas...se destaca Palmas de Ixcan...subsidiaria de...Green Earth Fuels, cuyos duenos son...Riverstone Holdings, LLC, The Carlyle Group y Goldman Sachs...Jatropha en Guatemala (3)...Entre las empresas...esta...CIE Automotive...A traves de su sociedad filial Bionor ha adquirido 51% en la empresa Biocombustibles de Guatemala S.A. (BCGSA)...[se refiere tambien a Octagon] Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:51:24 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/364509 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/467508 Ivorian government lawyers have said they may pursue criminal investigations against...Trafigura, which owned the oil waste dumped in open-air sites in Abidjan in 2006...Lawyer Joseph Brenham with the Paris-based non-profit human rights law firm, Sherpa Association [said] the February 2007 agreement is illegal, and therefore, non-binding, According to Cote d'Ivoire's civil code, a civil settlement cannot prevent prosecutions or trial for criminal acts. If the state has the political will to do it, there is nothing that prevents the state from prosecuting Trafigura and its leaders. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:17:05 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/467508 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/293160 Representatives from Canada and around the world held talks over the last two days to discuss the role the private sector plays through socially responsible initiatives to curb sexual exploitation of children...The evolving face of child sexual exploitation in travel and tourism, on the internet, and in the media renders it impossible to counter without the private sector's involvement and support...The outcomes of this meeting will now help shape discussions during the World Congress III Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children to be held in Rio de Janeiro from 25-28 November 2008 and will help broaden the range of socially responsible partnerships among a variety of industries in the lead up to the event. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:55:29 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/293160 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/805033 Thousands of Sudanese villagers were flooded out of their homes on Tuesday, village representatives said, blaming the floods on a new $2 billion dam on the River Nile. But the Sudan government's Dams Implementation Unit denied it had shut the gates of the Merowe dam, downriver from the villages, saying any floods were caused by seasonal rains... Tens of thousands of other villagers have already been displaced by the dam project, but the Manaseer villagers are refusing to move saying houses built for them by the government are too far from the river and would not have the water needed to sustain their agriculture. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:46:02 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/805033 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/764309 [Un] acuerdo entre "la Caixa" y la CREEX [Confederacion Regional Empresarial Extremena] permitira, en el marco del programa Incorpora de la entidad financiera, promover la integracion laboral de colectivos con dificultades para acceder a un empleo. La colaboracion entre "la Caixa" y laCREEXpersigue crear un alianza solida con el tejido empresarial de Extremadura para potenciar la integracion laboral de personas con dificultades especiales a la hora de acceder a un puesto de trabajo, como por ejemplo jovenes, parados de larga duracion, mujeres victimas de la violencia de genero, personas inmigradas y personas con discapacidad fisica, psiquica o sensorial. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:27:48 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/764309 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/266573 Two agricultural employer groups claiming to represent farm employers are going to the British Columbia Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) in an effort to prevent migrant farm workers from having the same protections that apply to Canadian workers. UFCW Canada Local 1518 received a copy of a submission the B.C. Agriculture Council and Western Agricultural Labour Initiative made to the B.C. Labour Relations Board, in which they claim the province's Labour Relations Code, "...cannot constitutionally apply to foreign nationals working in British Columbia under the Federal Government's Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP)."...[UFCW Canada said:]..."Migrant workers deserve to be protected from employers who abuse them, as does every other worker,"...[also refers to Floralia Farms, Greenway Farms] Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:19:15 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/266573 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/113558 A unit of US chemical giant Dow Chemicals saidit had suspended construction of a research centre in western India after villagers complained it would pollute an area they hold sacredTheWarkaris religious sectsay thefacility would pollute rivers they hold sacred. "Construction at the site is halted. We have complied with the (Maharashtra state) government notice," a Dow India official told media. Maharashtra chief ministerlast week ordered a month's halt to construction of the centre"Dialogues are on with state officials to resolve the issue," the Dow official saidA state-appointed panelwill study objections to the project and is expected to submit a report in a month. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:06:04 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/113558 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/414263 [This report] is the first comprehensive report on the emergence of a green economy and its impact on the world of work in the 21st Century. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:15:54 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/414263 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/532961 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ha ordenado a su base de suministro global que deje de adquirir algodon y materiales de algodon de Uzbekistan, con el proposito de persuadir al gobierno uzbeko para que ponga fin al trabajo forzado de ninos en la recogida de algodon. Esta medida se produce tras meses de trabajo con asociaciones comerciales de la industria, agencias gubernamentales, organizaciones no gubernamentales y grupos de inversion socialmente responsable para formar una posicion comun en la condena a las practicas del gobierno uzbeko[E]l gobierno uzbeko emitio...un Plan de Accion Nacional...para erradicar el uso de mano de obra infantil. Una vez que estos pasos se puedan verificar independientemente, Wal-Mart modificara las instrucciones a sus suministradores. Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:41:11 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/532961 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/261757 La lutte contre le VIH/Sida dans une entreprise est un investissement et non une charge. Elle a un impact sur la production de l'entreprise comme tout autre investissementC'est la vision du Comite inter entreprises de lutte contre le VIH/Sida (CIELS) qui a pour objet la lutte contre ce fleau et les Ist en milieu du travail. Mobiliser et maintenir les managers d'entreprises et les leaders syndicaux de Kananga dans la lutte contre le VIH/Sida en milieu de travail, tel a ete l'objectif de la seance de plaidoyer organise dernierement par le CIELSa Kananga dans la province du Kasai Occidental[L]a seancea connu la participation 18 managers d'entreprises [fait aussi reference a Office congolais de controle, Societe nationale des chemins de fer du Congo] Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:31:50 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/261757 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/305850 ...Un projet de construction par Nestle d'un complexe industriel...captera l'eau de la riviere McCloud a sa source, et la mettra en bouteille..."Nestle avait obtenu des conditions invraisemblables : pas d'etude d'impact, un contrat exclusif de cent ans, le droit de pomper jusqu'a 4 700 l d'eau a la minute - y compris au detriment des habitants...un prix d'achat derisoire, le droit de raser l'ancienne usine de bois de la ville" [dit Debra Anderson, habitante de McCloud]...l'usine risque de faire baisser le niveau des rivieres...d'assecher les puits...provoquant des reactions en chaine incontrolables qui mettront en danger l'ecosysteme...De guerre lasse, Nestle annonce au debut de l'annee que son projet est revu a la baisse : l'usine de McCloud sera trois fois plus petite que prevu, et ne creera que 90 emplois. Puis, en juillet, la multinationale annule le contrat avec la commune, et fait savoir au conseil municipal abasourdi qu'elle est prete a reprendre les negociations a zero. [fait reference aussi a USA Springs, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo] Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:28:46 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/305850