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UN Working Group Assesses Brazil's Actions on BHR Agenda
December 28, 2015
The UN Working Group on business and human rights ("BHR") issues recently sent two observers to Brazil to meet with representatives from government, business, civil society, unions, and other sectors to determine the level of implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on BHR by the government and businesses in the country.
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UN Seeks Enlistment of In-House Attorneys in BHR Agenda
December 28, 2015
The UN Global Compact, the American Bar Association, and the World Bank recently hosted an event at which they sought to inform corporate general counsel how best to implement the UN's agendas on business and human rights ("BHR") and "sustainable development" at their respective companies.
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Danish Pension Fund Blacklists Companies over Israel Ties
December 22, 2015
PFA Pension - the largest commercial pension fund in Denmark - has announced that it has added the company HeidelbergCement to its investment "exclusion list," along with other companies operating in territories containing Israeli settlements, due to the company's operation of a quarry in the disputed West Bank.
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Financial Companies Agree to "Portfolio Decarbonization"
December 22, 2015
The UN Environment Programme ("UNEP") has announced the addition of financial institutions from the UK, the Netherlands, and France to its "Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition," which seeks to pressure investors to remove funding from companies that UNEP argues contribute to climate change.
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OECD Uses Study to Support Corporate Tax Clampdown
December 22, 2015
The Director of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ("OECD") Centre for Tax Policy and Administration Pascal Saint-Amans uses a study indicating that corporate tax revenues have fallen since the global financial crisis as a share of gross domestic product to argue for the "urgency" of the OECD's global clampdown on corporate tax avoidance.