“UN to highlight corporate human rights abuse in the Pacific”, 27 November 2019

For the first time a session on the Pacific will feature at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. Representatives from civil society and some Pacific governments will gather in Geneva…to discuss human rights challenges in the region that are caused by companies,…[discussing] key…challenges, …the extractive sector and the climate crisis…

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre…has been working closely with participants of the session. The NGO's Pacific researcher, Amy Sinclair, said corporate human rights abuses in the Pacific often flew under the radar…“Some companies going into the region are not adhering to international standards which is causing significant issues for the communities that are coming up against the projects, who might be experiencing pollution in their water ways or even death from when food sources…are poisoned. [K]ey sectors where we're seeing harm…are mining but also other sectors like tourism, where we're seeing some irresponsible property development which can…harm local communities; also increasingly in the fishing sector, where modern slavery...[is] a major area of concern”.

In conjunction with the Pacific session in Geneva, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre will launch an online portal. As well as providing resources for Pacific activists and advocates, Ms Sinclair said the portal would expose corporate human rights abuse in the Pacific to the rest of the world…"One of the key drivers for the portal is really to shine a light for the first time into the shadows because there has been scant attention paid… internationally…to the abuses that are playing out".