http://www.business-humanrights.org Tracking the positive and negative impact of over 3000 companies worldwide. en-gb Wed, 07 May 2008 11:53:07 +0100 Wed, 07 May 2008 11:53:07 +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/999798 Chinese factory workers in Southern China are becoming more savvy about their rights, thanks to cellphones and the Internet. Factory owners are finding it harder to recruit migrant workers, so they have to offer more incentivesIn the past, workers would just swallow all the insults and humiliation. Now they resist, said Jenny Chan, chief coordinator of...[a] Hong Kong-based pressure group...which investigates factory conditions in southern ChinaThe prospect of an end to China's sweatshop culture is welcomed by labor groups, which look forward to the emergence of a politically influential labor movement Fri, 09 May 2008 21:07:51 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/999798 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/524613 Someoil companieshave agreed to pay about $423 million in cash to settle a lawsuit brought by more than a hundred public water providers, claiming water contamination from a popular gasoline additive[T]he companies also agreed to pay 70 percent of the future cleanup costs over the next 30 years. The defendants that agreed to the settlement included BP, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Marathon Oil, Valero Energy, Citgo and Sunoco. Six other companies named in the lawsuit, including Exxon Mobil, did not agree to the dealThe suit contended that the chemical was used by oil companies, even though they knew of the environmental and health risks that it posed[A] lawyer representing Exxonsaid[the company] would "vigorously defend" itself. Fri, 09 May 2008 19:30:51 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/524613 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/174659 Colombia is a dangerous place to be a trade unionist. Teofilo Acuna is president of the mining federation of Sur de Bolivar, an area in which violence and disappearances have escalated since the arrival of multinational mining companies three years ago. AngloGold Ashanti and its subsidiary Kedahda SA have legally frozen 3.7m hectares of Colombian land and applied for mineral exploration. But the communities of Sur de Bolivar live on a portion of this land and survive on small-scale gold mining and subsistence farming. They are engaged in a fierce struggle to defend their territory. [also refers to Conquistador Mines, Corona Goldfields] Fri, 09 May 2008 15:42:54 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/174659 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/616323 A toll-free mobile service being launched in selected remote areas in Africa promises to save lives by connecting people with emergency medical cases to health personnel. Under the initiative...health workers will also be trained through mobile phone sessions on day to day skills like collecting and sharing basic household health information...Prof Jeffrey Sachs, the director the Earth Institute, says the initiative is based on the bottom up approach to lifting rural villages out of poverty that afflicts more than a billion worldwide [refers to Sony Ericsson (joint venture Sony, Ericsson), Zain (part of celtel)] Fri, 09 May 2008 15:04:22 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/616323 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/964235 The World Food Programme (WFP) and Unilever Ghana Limited have launched in Accra the Unilever-WFP "Together for Child Vitality" partnership to raise awareness of the importance of child nutrition for growth and development...The programme supports the UN Millennium Development Goals of eradicating poverty and hunger and achieving universal primary education...Mr Cofie said Unilever had funded 15 million meals in the four countries in the last year, and this year it aimed to fund meals for 120,000 children in [Ghana, Kenya, Indonesia and Colombia] Fri, 09 May 2008 14:11:50 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/964235 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/256248 A UK-wide investigation into allegations of forced labour among migrant daffodil pickers has resulted in one of the industry's largest labour suppliers losing its licence. Timberland Homes Recruitment...has been barred from operating, the Gangmasters Licensing Authority said...The flowers...were eventually sold in high-street outlets and supermarkets such as Waitrose...Timberland's director...denied all allegations of malpractice or implied criminal activity [and] vowed to appeal against the decision...GLA said it had "uncovered a disgraceful story of forced labour in the 21st-century Britain"...[W]orkers harvested daffodils on farmsincluding contracts with Grampian Growers and Winchester Growers[M]anaging director of Grampian Growers said [it] had gone "beyond the call of duty" to meet GLA standards...Winchester Growers...did not return calls for comment...A spokesman for Waitrose said: "We are concerned to hear of these allegations and are currently investigating as a matter of urgency". Fri, 09 May 2008 13:12:58 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/256248 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/211418 [S]e cumplio el 17 aniversario del incendio en las instalaciones de la empresa Agricultura Nacional Veracruzana, mejor conocida por AnaversaNinguno de los responsables piso la carcel, mientras muchos inocentes han muerto y muchos mas padecen las secuelas de la exposicion a las sustancias que consumio el fuegoNunca sabremos tampoco el numero de victimas ocasionadas por otra empresa: Cromatos de Mexico, quedejo abandonada una herencia mortal:toneladas de residuos muy toxicos capaces de ocasionar hasta cancer y deteriorar el ambiente, en especial el aguaAl recordar estas dos tragedias, esperamos que la negligencia no desencadene otra en la nucleoelectrica de Laguna Verde. Fri, 09 May 2008 12:50:54 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/211418 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/295485 An Iraqi cleaner and two cooks claim that a culture of sexual harassment, abuse and bullying exists at the British Embassy in BaghdadThe complainantssay that some KBR managers groped Iraqi staff regularly, paid or otherwise rewarded them for sex and dismissed those who refused or spoke out. The British Embassyleft KBR to investigate; a KBR report found that there was no case to answer. The three Iraqis lost their jobs at the embassy... KBRdenies the claims. In an e-mail to The Timesit said that there was no evidence to support the allegations. Thu, 08 May 2008 18:18:33 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/295485 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/956413 Las inversiones en empresas eticas proporcionan una mayor rentabilidad que el dinero depositado en companias que no se rigen unicamente por criterios de responsabilidad social, segun calculos de Economistas Sin Fronteras. Un indice elaborado por esta organizacion ha registrado una rentabilidad 8 puntos superior a la acumulada por el principal selectivo de la bolsa espanola, el bex-35, en un periodo de casi tres anos, que termino el pasado mes de septiembre. "El surgimiento de un indice etico en el mercado financiero espanol...fomentaria la mejora de las practicas de las empresas", asegura Economistas Sin Fronteras... Thu, 08 May 2008 16:01:01 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/956413 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/394750 A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the rights of victims of the 2005 BP explosion in Texas City were violated by Houston federal prosecutors and a judge, but the plea bargain they object to remains on the table. Thu, 08 May 2008 15:19:59 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/394750 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/201473 ...el activismo corporativo ha dado muestras de ser uno de los mas trascendentes en los ultimos anos, sobre todo cuando dichas empresas trastocan los derechos humanos incluidos los laborales y repercuten, a decir de los activistas, negativamente en el medio ambiente...La oposicion y reclamos generados ante las acciones de las EMN [empresas multi nacionales] se inician formalmente en la decada de 1930. Sin embargo, el antecesor de los movimientos actuales contra las marcas fue el boicot contra Nestle por la publicidad que hizo para sustituir la leche materna por leche procesada, el cual culmino a finales de la decada de los setenta...Ello me hace suponer que la influencia de las redes de activistas sera cada vez mayor en la medida que los actores objetivo sean mas vulnerables a la opinion publica...Por otro lado, existen diversos ejemplos de casos que ilustran el trabajo que las redes han logrado realizar con las firmas a las que presionan...Primero expongo el caso de las EMN de la industria petroquimica en donde analizare casos especificos de empresas...senaladas por causar alteraciones al ambiente,...En segundo lugar, investigo a las corporaciones de la industria textil donde me concentro en casos especificos de empresas que se han visto involucradas en la violacion de derechos laborales...[se refiere tambien a Shell, Mandarin Internacional, Gap, Exxon, Chevron, Texaco (parte de Chevron), Kathy Lee Gifford, Levi Strauss, Wal-Mart, Nike, Adidas, Inditex, Walt Disney - incluye comentarios/medidas tomadas por las empresas] Thu, 08 May 2008 12:40:22 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/201473 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/480807 Contrat : CDD 1 an...Lieu : ...ParisDelai de presentation des candidatures : 25 maiObjectifs: Contribuer a la mise en uvre, sous la responsabilite du Directeur executif des activites du bureau mondialisation et droits humains du secretariat international de la FIDH, concernant la responsabilite des entreprises Thu, 08 May 2008 00:05:19 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/480807 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/903137 Residents took to the streets of a provincial capital over the weekend to protest a multibillion-dollar petrochemical plant..., in the latest instance of popular discontent over an environmental threat in a major city. The protest, against a $5.5 billion ethylene plant under construction by PetroChina in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, reflected a surge in environmental awareness by urban, middle-class Chinese determined to protect their health and the value of their property... About 400 to 500 protesters took part in the march, witnesses said... Critics of the Pengzhou plan said in interviews on Monday that the government had not done proper environmental reviews of the project, which could pollute the air and water and lead to health hazards. Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/903137 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/844082 The Student/Farmworker Alliance and...the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, have for years been urging the fast-food industry to accept some responsibility for the plight of Florida migrants who harvest the tomatoes for its hamburgers and tacos... In March, a woman named Cara Schaffer contacted the Student/Farmworker Alliance, saying she was a student at Broward Community College... Ms. Schaffer is the...owner of a private security firm...Diplomatic Tactical Services... [A] Burger King executive told me that the company had worked with Diplomatic Tactical Services for years on security-related matters and had used it to obtain information about the Student/Farmworker Alliance's plans in order to prevent acts of violence... But the Student/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are not dangerous, extremist groups. Both are pacifist, mainstream nonprofits... I've come to believe that we now need a similar set of restrictions [to those the Bill of Rights places on government power] to defend against irresponsible corporate power... Unlike government agencies...private firms operate with a remarkable degree of freedom. [also refers to surveillance by HP, Wal-Mart] Wed, 07 May 2008 23:06:16 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/844082 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/391171 McDonald's Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, and a group of organizations working to improve working conditions in company supply chains, including the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, announced the release of the final report of Project Kaleidoscope, a multi-year collaborative project designed to promote sustained compliance with labor standards mandated by corporate codes of conduct for manufacturers. The project was piloted at 10 contractor factories in southern China that produce goods for McDonald's restaurants and Disney licensees. This collaborative effort developed and successfully field-tested an alternative approach to promoting and enhancing long-term, sustained code compliance. Wed, 07 May 2008 22:06:15 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/391171 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/611598 ...[With Burma] suddenly in the midst of a huge natural disaster that has already claimed some 22,000 lives, now is clearly the time to go beyond debate [over companies' trade & investment with Burma] and for any companies still doing business there to start rolling up their sleeves... [Is] Cyclone Nargis going to be the catalyst for any of the hundreds of multinationals doing business with Burma to demonstrate some concrete proof that their business links can bring positive social benefits to the Burmese people? After all, the common argument used by companies involved in Burma is that they can benefit ordinary people more by investing there than divesting. So this is a real opportunity to finally show the world that this whole argument is more than just a lame excuse for profiting from human rights abuses. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) latest list of companies doing business with Burma includes Caterpillar..., China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), Daewoo International..., Siemens..., Gas Authority of India (GAIL), GlaxoSmithKline ..., Hyundai..., and Total.... Wed, 07 May 2008 19:42:04 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/611598 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/273897 Greenpeace exigio hoy a la Direccion General de Costas y a la Junta de Andalucia que pongan fin 'de inmediato' a los vertidos de Fertiberia en las Marismas de Mendana de Huelva --en cumplimiento de[una] sentencia de la Audiencia Nacional-- y que se proceda a una restauracion ambiental 'en profundidad' del dominio publico afectado por los mismos, a cargo de esta empresa[Segun] Greenpeace[esta] catastrofe ambientalesta poniendo en peligro la salud de mas de 150.000 personas que viven en uno de los ambientes mas contaminados de Europa Wed, 07 May 2008 18:19:20 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/273897 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/499138 Business leaders representing some of the world's largest companies today launched an international campaign urging governments of the Group of Eight (G8) countries to address with urgency the emerging global crisis in water and sanitation. In a letter released by the United Nations Global Compact Office, the chief executive officers of 19 corporations call on G8 leaders to actively address the issue of water during their upcoming Hokkaido Toyako Summit on 7-9 July in Japan. The business leaders are all endorsers of the UN Global Compact's CEO Water Mandate... The signing chief executives represent the following companies: Diageo; Hayleys PLC; Hindustan Construction Company; Lackeby Water AB; Levi Strauss & Co.; Liqum Oy; Metito...; Nestle S.A.; Netafim Ltd.; PepsiCo, Inc.; SABMiller plc; Siemens AG; Suez; SunOpta Inc.; The Coca-Cola Company; The Dow Chemical Company; Unilever; Westpac Banking Corporation; WPP. Wed, 07 May 2008 17:48:21 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/499138 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/474322 Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) joins former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, to support Habitat for Humanity's 25th annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project (JRCWP) in the Gulf Coast May 11-16, 2008. The five-day event will serve to construct and rehabilitate 60 houses and frame up to 48 more in the host cities of Biloxi, Gulfport and Pascagoula, Mississippi... Dow will provide monetary and product support towards the homes, including energy efficient technologies that will mean lower utility bills for the new home owners. Products donated include STYROFOAM Insulation, WEATHERMATE Housewraps and SAFETOUCH Fiberglass-Free Insulation... Wed, 07 May 2008 17:18:17 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/474322 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/192530 Son empresas fantasma con la capacidad de desmontar sus instalaciones en un dia o a veces en una noche para instalarse en otro punto del pais y huir de las autoridades...Companias operadas por bandas de delincuencia organizada transnacional dedicada a la trata laboral de personas, dice Mauricio Farah, quinto visitador de la Comision Nacional de los Derechos Humanos...Uno de los casos es el de 80 chinas que laboraban para una empresa maquiladora de ropa denominada KBL de Mexico...Alla, en China, les prometian sueldos en dolares y pocas horas de trabajo...Ya en la empresa, se les obligaba a trabajar entre 17 y 18 horas al dia; comian y dormian en el mismo lugar...Y los descuentos se repetian...si enfermaban, si resultaban embarazadas, si habia retrasos tras la unica y fugaz salida semanal...Si deciamos algo, nos amenazaban con ser expulsadas del pais y con represalias personales o agravios a nuestras familias, relato una de las afectadas...De acuerdo a informacion de la Visitaduria...hay casos similares en todo el pais... Wed, 07 May 2008 14:50:08 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/192530 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/875500 I have three main reservations about recommending to states that they launch a treaty process [on business & human rights] at this time. First, treaty-making can be painfully slow, while the challenges of business and human rights are immediate and urgent. Second, and worse, a treaty-making process now risks undermining effective shorter-term measures to raise business standards on human rights. And third, even if treaty obligations were imposed on companies, serious questions remain about how they would be enforced... Wed, 07 May 2008 14:42:39 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/875500 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/450771 L'Association Francophone des Commissions Nationales des Droits de l'Homme a organise, avec le soutien de l'Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, du 28 fevrier au 1er mars 2008, le premier seminaire associant les differents types de parties prenantes de l'espace francophone concernees par la responsabilite sociale des entreprises (RSE).[Parmi les interventions, celle d'Ahmed Herzenni, President du Conseil Consultatif des Droits de l'Homme (CCDH) du Royaume du Maroc et President de l'Association Francophone des Commissions Nationales des Droits de l'Homme (AFCNDH)] Wed, 07 May 2008 12:33:49 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/450771 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/422349 Una reciente investigacion dirigida a conocer las percepciones sobre temas raciales y culturales entre empresarios peruanos afirma que el exito es mas dificil para quienes tienen rasgos andinos en relacion a otros sectores de la sociedad. El Estudio ...revela que la discriminacion racial en el Peru dificulta el crecimiento empresarial de andinos y discrimina intelectualmente a negros. El estudio encargado por la empresa Marcom Americas Consulting evaluo la percepcion de empresarios y profesionales que ocupan cargos gerenciales en Lima y en otras seis ciudades... Wed, 07 May 2008 12:32:13 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/422349 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/982527 Les populations de Moanda, dans la province du Bas Congo, vivent dans une pollution inimaginable . Ces propos sont du depute national Gilbert Kiakwama qui accusent les societes petrolieres de la place d'etre a la base de cette situation... Les gens ne veulent plus cultiver, ils n'ont plus d'eau potable, les rivieres sont polluees, c'est inacceptable , a martele le depute Kikwama... De leur cote, des ONG basees a Moanda meme confirment la pollution de la cite cotiere. Wed, 07 May 2008 12:16:08 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/982527 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/882142 In April 2008, Dream for Darfur issued a..."report card" grading 19 Olympic corporate sponsors on the steps they had taken "to help bring security to war-torn Darfur", including asking companies "to call for indicted Sudanese war criminals to be banned from the Games, contact the Chinese government about the genocide, work with the IOC [Intl. Olympic Committee] and each other to craft a meaningful action or urge the UN to deploy the full protection force without further delay." Sixteen of the 19 companies graded received a "D" or "F". Of the 19, "Adidas, Kodak and McDonald's alone urged the UN and international community to address the genocide, or took other actions" according to Dream for Darfur... Section II of the full report includes each company's response to the actions that Dream for Darfur urged.[16 sponsors that received Ds or Fs:Anheuser-Busch, Atos Origin, BHP Billiton, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Lenovo, Manulife/John Hancock, Microsoft, Panasonic/Matsushita, Samsung, Staples, Swatch/Omega, Visa, Volkswagen] Wed, 07 May 2008 11:53:07 +0100 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/882142