Business & Human Rights

Dutch Government Plans BHR "Due Diligence" Policies

October 17, 2016

Responding to a University of Utrecht study on whether Dutch laws imposing a duty of care on corporations satisfy "due diligence" requirements under the global business and human rights agenda, the Dutch Government announced plans to take into account the study's findings in punishing BHR violations using the country's civil and criminal law.
Roundtables Push for Corporate Social, Environmental Focus

October 17, 2016

Through its Purpose of the Corporation Project, law firm Frank Bold recently hosted a series of roundtable discussions in the US and Europe in which participants discussed how the focus of corporations must change, through law and company policy, to include long-term social and environmental factors, in line with the business and human rights agenda.
NGO Seeks Human Rights Monitoring of IFC Investments

October 14, 2016

As activists ramp up campaigns calling on multinational development banks to screen investments for potential business and human rights impacts, the nongovernmental organization Oxfam is pushing the International Finance Corporation to scale down its investments through intermediaries if it cannot track the ultimate BHR effects of related projects.
Island States Warn of Impacts from Global Tax Policy

October 14, 2016

Leaders from a group of Caribbean and other island countries warned at the recent meeting of the UN General Assembly that their finance-focused economic models are under threat from the withdrawal of banking business under the global agenda of identifying and penalizing finance companies that deal in so-called "tax havens."
Luxembourg Exchange Launches "Green Finance" Platform

October 14, 2016

The Luxembourg Stock Exchange has announced its launch of a "Green Exchange" that will serve as a platform for investment in projects relating to renewable energy and will not permit securities relating to fossil fuel or nuclear power projects.