Business & Human Rights

NGOs Pressure Canada on BHR in Mining Industry

April 29, 2016

A group of nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs") has published a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seeking his implementation of global business and human rights ("BHR") principles in the Canadian mining industry by, among other policies, creating a mechanism to investigate alleged BHR violations and easing the access of alleged victims to Canadian courts.
FIFA Announces Panel on Qatar World Cup Workers

April 29, 2016

Responding to an outcry from nongovernmental organizations and a review by Professor John Ruggie of the organization's human rights impacts, International Federation of Association Football ("FIFA") President Gianni Infantino has announced a panel that will monitor labor conditions involved in Qatar's construction of stadiums that will host the 2022 World Cup.
UN Network Seeks Strong UK Corporate Reporting Mandate

April 29, 2016

Désirée Abrahams of the UN Global Compact ("UNGC") Network UK has published a letter to the UK Government on its plan to transpose the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive for corporations into law, calling on the UK to use UNGC's reporting standards, apply the reporting mandate to almost all companies, and include nongovernmental organizations in the process.
GRI Encourages Expansive Action on UN Climate Goals

April 28, 2016

The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") has called for businesses and governments to look beyond carbon emissions to address the "human rights" impacts of global warming in implementing the UN climate deal signed in New York last week and predicts that the UN will use GRI's reporting guidelines as its standard for government emissions reporting under the deal.
EU Ministers Seek Strong Response to "Panama Papers"

April 28, 2016

NDTV reports that, at recent talks in Amsterdam, national finance ministers from EU member states coalesced around a number of proposals in the wake of the release of off-shore financial information in the "Panama Papers" to shame so-called "tax havens" and require more reporting on taxes paid by companies throughout Europe and around the world.