Welcome to our Corporate Legal Accountability Quarterly Bulletin -- highlighting a specific topic each quarter, as well as key developments in corporate legal accountability. The Corporate Legal Accountability hub on our website provides objective, concise information about lawsuits against companies in which human rights abuses are alleged.

Quarterly highlight: The use of consumer protection laws as strategic tool for corporate due diligence and transparency in global supply chains...Forced labour, child labour, discrimination, poverty wages, unsafe working conditions, harassment and other human rights abuses perpetrated across companies' global supply chains are well documented. Allegations of forced labour practices in the seafood and fishing industry in South East Asia; hazardous working conditions and child labour in African gold, diamond and cobalt mines, which supply multinational corporations; and reported sexual harassment and discrimination against women working in Asian garment factories are but a few infamous examples. Supply chains are complex, multi-layered and heavily rely on sub-contracting, thus making it easy for businesses to evade responsibility for human rights abuses under the guise of lack of effective control and/or knowledge of the situation. However, with the rise of ethical consumerism, companies are facing growing pressure from individual consumers who increasingly demand information on the origin, production and supply chains of the goods they are purchasing.