Business & Human Rights

WTO Members Debate IP Effects on Medicine Access

December 02, 2016

At a meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), member governments of the World Trade Organization debated the implications of a report by the UN's High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines regarding whether certain aspects of the transnational TRIPS agreement aligns with the global "right to health."
UN Presses Businesses on Fulfilling Climate Deal

December 01, 2016

Executive Director of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) Lise Klingo has published an article on how UNGC is pushing businesses, through such activities as its "Pathways to Low-Carbon Development" program persuading companies to help meet national climate pledges under the UN's Paris climate deal, to fulfill the UN's goals on global warming.
ISO Global Standards Advance UN Climate Agenda

December 01, 2016

In a press release announcing events it planned for the recent UN climate summit in Marrakesh, Morocco, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) describes how its corporate reporting and other standards, including an upcoming global standard on preventing and adapting to climate change, contribute to the UN's sustainable development agenda.
NGO Coalition Seeks BHR Action over "Sustainability"

November 30, 2016

The European Coalition for Corporate Justice has criticized a European Commission Action Plan on implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals for only encouraging positive contributions by businesses while failing to clamp down on corporate conduct through a transnational, "legally binding business and human rights framework."
Bank Publishes Assessment of Labor Rights Impacts

November 30, 2016

A "social impact assessment" by the Netherlands-based ASN Bank and Impact Centre Erasmus exploring how the financial institution could, in line with the global business and human rights agenda, use its investments to promote the concept of the "living wage" includes a set of scorecards for apparel companies on wages in their supply chains.