Weekly Update - 6 May 2015

Intl. Consortium of Investigative Journalists & Huffington Post

• Bank’s records show its projects displaced at least 3.4 million people worldwide in 2004-13, forcing them from homes, taking land or damaging livelihoods
• with articles on impacts of Bank-supported plantations in Ethiopia, power plant in India, forestry project in Kenya, gold mining in Peru
• Bank acknowledged its oversight has been poor, and president admits "deep concern" over how it has applied resettlement policy

(photo credit: Sami Siva ICIJ)

• aim is to collect information from as many jurisdictions as possible on access to remedy for corporate rights abuses
• will be used to formulate recommendations to governments

Huffington Post

IndustriALL

• includes claims of anti-union behaviour, failures in health & safety, and in respect of indigenous rights, in many countries
• we invited Rio Tinto to respond - response provided

compiled by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

Guardian (UK)

IT-Director.com (USA)

Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany

• we invited BASF to respond - response provided

South African Civil Society Information Service

• Vale responds regarding its Moatize coal mine in Mozambique

news24 (So. Africa)

• company says an investigation has been launched

El País (España); WorkersCompensation.com (USA)

• 25,000 Mexican fishermen file lawsuit over loss of livelihoods
• judge allows clean-up workers to bring claims over health issues

Survival Intl.

• also available in Portuguese

Associated Press

Vice News

• programme will be expanded to build infrastructure for 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Association for Intl. Human Rights Reporting Standards (FIHRRST)

Karen News (Myanmar)

Intl. Bar Association 

Daily Mail (UK)

• company says it is appealing the decision

Amnesty Intl., Global Witness & others

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights; Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights; Egyptian Center for Civil and Legislative Reform; Association for Health and Environmental Development

Guardian (UK)

Associated Press; Jordan Times

• rights groups say govt. reforms proposed in May 2014 fall short of abolishing the exploitative kafala system

Associação Nacional de Direitos Humanos, Pesquisa e Pós- Graduação, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre 

• for publication in online journal ARACÊ – Direitos Humanos em Revista
• articles in English, French, Portuguese Spanish accepted

• Research & Projects Intern
• Legal Research Intern

• seminar on responsible corporate conduct in Mekong region (Phnom Penh, 8 May)
• conference on aligning corporate sustainability with Sustainable Development Goals (Bangkok, 20 May - register by 10 May)
• webinar on corporate human rights due dilligence (online, 11 May)
• conference on global transformation (Bonn, 12-13 May)
• African regional conference, Global Reporting Initiative (Johannesburg, 12-13 May) 
• webinar on business & human rights benchmarking (online, 12 May)
• stakeholder forum on US National Action Plan (Washington DC, 13 May)

• Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (2 internships: Research & Projects Intern; Legal Research Intern)
• ACCESS Facility (Program Manager)
• Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity (Human Rights Research Intern)
• OECD (Policy Analyst, Responsible Business Conduct in the Financial Sector)
• The European Coalition for Corporate Justice (Communications Officer)