Business & Human Rights

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.
Report Rates Companies on Medicine Access

November 30, 2016

The Access to Medicine Foundation, supported by the UK and Dutch Governments, has produced the 2016 edition of its report rating pharmaceutical companies on their efforts to make medicine available to poor countries, including whether these businesses price their products "fairly" in these areas.
Law Firms Convene Workshop on BHR Implementation

November 30, 2016

A group of nine law firms recently held a workshop in London as part of their Law Firm Business and Human Rights Peer Learning Process to discuss cooperation between and within law firms on complying with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and to promoting these Principles in their global practices.
Ruggie Urges Focus on UNGPs to Achieve "Sustainability"

November 30, 2016

In remarks to the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva, Harvard Professor John Ruggie urged businesses to focus on fulfilling the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), including by putting pressure on their supply chains, in order to contribute to the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals.