Business & Human Rights

NGOs Criticize EU Development Bank's BHR Record

March 14, 2017

The nongovernmental coalition CEE Bankwatch Network has published a report criticizing the European Investment Bank for failing to perform, in compliance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (BHR), proper due diligence assessments of the BHR impacts of projects it funds outside the EU.
Investors Seek Retention of SEC Minerals Rule

March 14, 2017

Signaling the impact activists are having on investors and banks over the social and environmental impacts of their finance decisions, a group of investors has published a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission calling for the continued enforcement of the agency's rule requiring reporting on businesses' use of "conflict minerals" from Africa.
UN Pushes Broad Regulation of Plastics Use

March 13, 2017

The UN Environment Programme has launched a Clean Seas campaign that is calling on governments around the world to broadly regulate the use of plastics, including by banning "microplastics" and pushing businesses to adjust their supply chains to reduce plastic waste, to limit the amount of plastics that reach marine ecosystems.
NGO Monitors Business Grievance Procedures

March 13, 2017

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a human rights NGO composed of legal experts, has established a panel that bypasses national governments and directly guides the internal grievance-resolution practices used by businesses around the world, citing human rights concerns produced by "poor design and/or implementation" of these practices.
Ruggie Refutes Narrow Interpretations of UNGPs

March 08, 2017

In a letter on the meanings of key terms in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), Harvard Professor and creator of the UNGPs John Ruggie writes that they encompass a broad scope of conduct businesses must assess across their operations and relationships.