Weekly Update - 9 September 2015

• head of German industry federation BDI calls for refugees to be offered jobs
• Bayern Munich to donate 1.1 million USD to refugee crisis
• UK tabloids Sun & Daily Mail accused of contributing to anti-refugee sentiment
• Danish companies call on govt. to drop anti-refugee information campaign

(Photo credit: Caruso Penguin/Flickr)

• business & human rights treaty should safeguard civic space, says Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on rights to freedom of peaceful assembly & association

Reuters

• firms to make enforceable commitments, building on Bangladesh Accord experience
• process focuses on addressing root causes including purchasing practices, long-term commitments from buyers to suppliers

Interview in Guardian (UK)

Greg Asbed (Coalition of Immokalee Workers), Scott Nova (Worker Rights Consortium), Noelle Damico (Natl. Economic and Social Rights Initiative), on Huffington Post

Intl. Institute for Environment & Development; Inclusive Development Intl.

Bench Marks Foundation, Bread For All

• Vitol is exclusive marketing agent for much of the coal exported by Coal of Africa
• we invited Vitol to respond - response provided
• also included: statement by Coal of Africa

• we invited Nestlé to respond - response provided
• FLA assesses Nestlé's supply chain annually as part of Nestlé's Cocoa Plan

Canadian Press

Globe and Mail (Canada)

Peace Brigades Intl.

• risks include displacement, death threats & intimidation, arbitrary arrest & detention

• we invited Poligrow to respond to the allegations; the company declined, citing a pending decision by a penal court where it sued the complainants

• we invited Oji Paper (parent of Laos plantation firm) to respond - response provided

Japan Times

• article includes comments by Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, McLeod Russel, Tata, Taylors of Harrogate, Twinings, Unilever

Intl. Business Times

awasMIFEE

• solidarity group awasMIFEE issues rejoinder & ANJ Group responds

Uzbek-German Forum for Human RIghts; Anti-Slavery Intl.; Cotton Campaign

• firms say supporting harvest is a prerequisite for doing business in the country
• we invited 4 companies accused of supporting 2014 harvest to state their positions: General Motors, Telenor, TeliaSonera and VimpelCom responded

Urgenda

• we invited the companies to respond - responses provided

Middle East North Africa Financial Network

• new wage protection system requires employers to transfer salaries electronically; some concerned about lack of ATMs

AlBawaba (Jordan)

• "Social responsibility & the extractives industry: Is conflict inevitable?" (London, 10 Sep)
• seminar on child labour, student & juvenile workers (Guangzhou, 15 Sep)
• legal workshop on business & human rights (London, 15 Sep)
• launch of Law Society business & human rights programme (London, 15 Sep)
• workshop on responsible supply chain management (Copenhagen, 16 Sep)
• training: "Advancing your due diligence approach through stakeholder engagement" (Frankfurt am Main, 16 Sep)

• European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (2 posts: Project Complaint Mechanism Advisor, Senior Monitoring Verification Advisor)
• Impactt Limited (Project Manager, China Office)
• International Alert (Fundraising & Finance Assistant)
• Traidcraft (Senior Policy & Advocacy Adviser)
• Yahoo (Global Public Policy Fellow in Business & Human Rights)