Business & Human Rights

UN Body: Lowering Corporate Taxes Violates Rights

August 18, 2017

The Center for Economic and Social Rights has applauded the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights for releasing a document recognizing an international legal obligation of governments not to lower their taxes to attract investors and to ensure that businesses do not seek to avoid taxation in other countries.
NGOs Rate Banks on Shift Toward Climate Finance

August 18, 2017

A group of environmental activist organizations has published an analysis scoring banks around the world on the extent to which they have shifted their lending from fossil fuel exploration to clean energy projects, finding across the board that financial institutions have failed to meet their pledges to contribute to the global climate change agenda.
Ruggie Seeks New Path for Development of BHR Agenda

August 18, 2017

Professor John Ruggie of Harvard University has published an article indicating the limits of both voluntary and regulatory approaches to persuading corporations to take into account their human rights impacts and suggests the need for a new path, recognizing the "dynamic interplay" between these approaches, to advance the business and human rights (BHR) agenda.
NGO Criticizes EU Sustainable Development Proposal

August 18, 2017

The nongovernmental organization Oxfam has criticized an EU proposal to drive more money into climate-friendly development projects in Africa through a European Fund for Sustainable Development due to the alleged potential for such projects to "benefit big multinational corporations" at the expense of the poor.
UN Group Merges BHR, SDG Agendas

August 18, 2017

A document from the UN Working Group on business and human rights (BHR) highlights efforts by the UN to merge its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the BHR agenda, asserting that the SDGs cannot be achieved unless businesses implement their duties under the UN Guiding Principles on BHR and perform "due diligence" on their rights impacts.