Business & Human Rights

Litigants Seek Corporate Liability for Supply-Chain Forced Labor

April 13, 2016

The nongovernmental organization Human Rights First has published an update on recent litigation in which plaintiffs have attempted to use a California law requiring corporate reporting on efforts to end forced labor in their supply chains and the US Alien Tort Statute to hold US businesses liable for connections to foreign companies that use forced labor.
HRC Votes for Database on Businesses Involved in Israeli Settlements

April 12, 2016

The UN Human Rights Council ("HRC") has voted to establish a database of businesses involved in Israeli settlement activities in what the resolution identifies as "the Occupied Palestinian Territory" and has called on countries to advise companies of potential liability for "gross human rights abuses" in the region.
UK Commissioner Outlines Supply Chain Reporting Requirements

April 12, 2016

UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commission Kevin Hyland has published an open letter to British businesses stressing the need for transparency and a "proactive approach" by large businesses using their bargaining power to comply with a new law seeking to eliminate human trafficking and modern slavery throughout corporate supply chains.
NGO Guide Highlights Complexity of Supply Chain Forced Labor

April 12, 2016

A guide from the nongovernmental organization Sedex on how auditors and businesses can root out forced labor in their supply chains spotlights the complexity for companies in determining whether working conditions at a supplier amount to "extreme forms of exploitation" that could lead to liability.
California Proposal Targets Companies over Climate Information

April 12, 2016

Jason Barbose of the Union of Concerned Scientists has published an article seeking the passage of legislation in California that extends the statute of limitations for California’s Unfair Competition Law to 30 years in the case of civil actions against companies over information they released on the uncertainty of climate change science.