Business & Human Rights

Norway Wealth Fund Implements BHR Agenda

April 06, 2016

Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway's sovereign wealth fund, has adopted a human rights policy requiring companies in which it invests to integrate a human rights strategy in their operations and to report on their performance, key tenets in the implementation of the UN's business and human rights ("BHR") agenda.
OECD Contact Point: Company Failed to Uphold Standards in DRC

April 06, 2016

The UK National Contact Point of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ("OECD") Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises has found that natural resources company ENRC violated the Guidelines through its subsidiaries' failure to consult with Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") villages over security and effects of their operations on the local water supply.
JPMorgan Limits Investments in Coal Projects

April 05, 2016

Website Clean Technica reports that financial company JPMorgan has acted in line with demands from UN officials and nongovernmental organizations by adding certain coal investments to the company's list of "Prohibited Transactions" in order to help combat global warming.
UNOHCHR Critiques World Bank Environmental, Social Framework

April 05, 2016

In comments reflecting UN pressure on public and private actors to implement its business and human rights agenda, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ("UNOHCHR") has called on the World Bank to amend its Environmental and Social Framework to take greater account of international human rights law and strengthen due diligence requirements.
US Agency: Amazon Cannot Omit Gender Pay Proposal

April 05, 2016

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has rejected a request from technology company Amazon to exclude from its shareholder ballot a proposal from an activist investor, which has submitted the same proposal to eight other technology companies, calling on Amazon to report any difference between men's and women's pay and how it plans to resolve any disparity.