Weekly Update - 8 June 2016

• 47 companies contacted so far; 10 full responses & 5 general statements received. 100 companies will be contacted by end of the year
• issues covered include recruitment, wages, passport retention, accommodation, health & safety & more
• search features & interactive map allow users to compare companies' responses

 

• 20 food & beverage companies include: BRF, Coca-Cola, JBS, PepsiCo, Wilmar
• 20 apparel & footwear companies include: Fast Retailing, H&M, Inditex, Nike, Prada

Kasumi Maeda & Eniko Horvath, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in Triple Pundit

• do renewable energy firms’ practices & operations meet human rights obligations?

Intl. Service for Human Rights (ISHR) & Intl. Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR)

Sustainable Brands

• companies involved include: Barry Callebaut, Cargill, Ecom Agrotrade, Hershey, Lindt & Sprüngli, Olam Intl., Mars,  Nestlé, Touton

Reuters

Intl. Service for Human Rights; Global Initiative for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights; Platform Against Impunity; nearly 300 other NGOs & groups

Reuters; Action for South Africa (ACTSA)

• see our case profile

News Agency of Nigeria; Amnesty Intl., Environmental Rights Action & other NGOs; Guardian (UK)

• launch welcomed by local leaders & NGOs, but some recall past broken promises, urge further action by Shell & govt.

• comments by partners in Lake Turkana Wind Power project included in report

Reuters

Bloomberg; EarthRights Intl.

• see our case profile

Todd Paglia, Exec. Director of Stand Earth, in Huffington Post; Courthouse News Service

Fresh Fruit Portal

• highlights abusive working conditions among subcontractors, industrial accidents & illness, repression of union activity

Daily Times

• see also: Families of victims submit evidence for lawsuit against KiK in Germany

Intl. Commission of Jurists & Fortify Rights in Bangkok Post 

China Labor Watch

• we invited Alibaba, which sources from factory, and inspection firm SGS to respond - Alibaba responded, and we will indicate next week whether SGS responds

QZ

Guardian (UK)

• trade union alleges a "culture of fear" at company
• woman gave birth in warehouse toilet because she was scared to take time off
• Ashley admits paying below the minimum wage & having too many staff on zero hours contracts - which are criticised by rights groups as exploitative 

Mail Online (UK)

FDI Intelligence; Reuters

• 22 new FDI projects in 1st quarter of 2016 - 2013 had seen 3, 2014: 8, 2015: 9 

• intl. conference on social impacts of supply chains (13-15 Jun, Cambridge, USA)
• 2016 Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk (13 Jun, London)
• training course on impact of UK Modern Slavery Act (14 Jun, London)
• including human rights defenders in National Action Plans (15 Jun, Geneva)
• role of lawyers in promoting climate change awareness (16 Jun, London)
• auditing techniques & initiatives to tackle forced labour (16 Jun, online)
• UN Guiding Principles 5-year anniversary event (16 Jun, Washington DC)
• enabling environments for at-risk human rights defenders (17 Jun, London)

• American Jewish World Service (Senior Policy Advisor, Natural Resource Rights)
• EarthRights Intl. (Earth Rights Defenders Coordinator)
• Intl. Committee of the Red Cross (Traineeship in business & human rights)
• Intl. Labor Rights Forum (Campaigns & Communications Assistant)
• PVH (Corporate Responsibility Data Analyst, Human Rights)