"Human rights defenders take center stage at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights", 3 Dec 2015

How do we ensure companies adhere to their human rights obligations under the UN Guiding Principles? As more and more activists are targeted by companies for speaking out, one thing is clear: protection must be part of the deal...Now that the UNGPs have been around for a few years, how do we ensure that governments and companies actually implement them in a meaningful way? Here, civil society plays a fundamental role in promoting accountability. Unfortunately, in some contexts those willing to speak up—often in defense of the lands and resources on which they depend—risk the threat of legal action, violence, or even death...Oxfam and seven partner organizations working in Latin America released a communiqué around the Forum calling on the UN Working Group on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises to collaborate with states to end criminalization of human rights defenders around extractive industry projects...