Business & Human Rights

Australian Companies Face Legislative Push for Labor Reporting

January 16, 2018

An article in The Sydney Morning Herald highlights the concerns from some retail businesses regarding the scope of and penalties contained in a proposal for an Australian law that would require large companies to publicly report their efforts to rid their global supply chains of forced labor.
UN Agent Critiques Australian Delay of BHR Action Plan

January 16, 2018

The Chairperson of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (BHR) has published a letter to Australia's UN office in Geneva expressing disappointment regarding the Australian government's decision not to develop a "National Action Plan" on the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on BHR at this time.
Study Blames Forced Labor on "Core Dynamics" of Global Economy

January 11, 2018

A study by a group of academics and civil-society researchers links forced labor to the "core dynamics of the global economy" established by "elite-led processes of neoliberal globalisation," including economic inequality and growing "concentrations of corporate power and ownership," and calls for ramping up corporate regulations and restrictions in response.
Academics Offer "Scientific" Tools for Corporate Climate Action

January 10, 2018

A group of researchers at the University of Oxford has published "scientifically-grounded tools" investors and companies should use in developing their strategies to reduce to "net zero" the greenhouse gas emissions from their business activities in line with the global agenda against climate change.
Nigerian NGO Files OECD Complaint over Flooding

January 10, 2018

A Nigerian community association has filed a complaint with the National Contact Points for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in Italy and the Netherlands claiming that an Italian energy company and its Dutch subsidiary violated "international standards of corporate conduct" by flooding Nigerian villages through infrastructure they built to extract oil from the country.