Business & Human Rights

NGOs Call for Primacy of BHR Treaty over Trade Deals

October 12, 2016

In advance of negotiations over a binding UN business and human rights treaty in Geneva in late October, a group of nongovernmental organizations have released a summary of a legal seminar in which participants called for a BHR treaty that addresses a wide range of legal issues and would take precedence over international trade and investment deals.
NGOs Seek Rights Accountability in Development Finance

October 12, 2016

A recent workshop hosted by an academic institute and a group of nongovernmental organizations attempted to resolve how local communities and governments could hold development project financiers to global standards related to the business and human rights agenda.
Attorneys Spotlight Corporate Legal Risk of BHR Agenda

October 11, 2016

Emilie Bundock and Kevin O'Callaghan of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP assert that growing corporate acceptance of the global business and human rights agenda has contributed to the need for businesses to construct "robust human rights policies" and could lead to BHR obligations becoming enforceable as part of customary international law.
NGO Pushes Climate-Friendly Reforms in Development Finance

October 11, 2016

A report from the nongovernmental organization Christian Aid calls on multilateral development banks to hasten their plans to phase out development finance for businesses and projects involving fossil fuel-based energy in order to help implement the global agendas on combating climate change and on advancing "sustainable development."
GRI Report Calls for Business Monitoring of SDG Impacts

October 11, 2016

The Global Reporting Initiative and Business Call to Action have produced a report calling on governments to place pressure on businesses to monitor and report their impacts on the UN Sustainable Development Goals to help fulfill the Goals' comprehensive economic and social agenda.