Weekly Update - 22 March 2017

Business Standard, Wire, Indo Asian News Service, Counter Currents

• since Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2005 project faced opposition from locals, many of whom were betel leaf cultivators
• for people who lost their land, little hope of recovering livelihood

• ranks top companies from three sectors: agricultural products/food & beverage; apparel; extractive industries
• small number of companies lead in each industry, but most receive low scores
• new commentaries on how human rights ranking can incentivise companies to improve, by Wall Street Journal, Fibre2Fashion

• includes responses of Renace, Oxec

EurActiv (Belgium)

• includes new principles to achieve decent work for all

NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights

Royal United Service Institute, Reuters

Sorley McCaughey, Christian Aid Ireland, in TheJournal.ie

Saturday Star (South Africa)

• could set "game-changing" precedent for the responsibilities of mining directors who leave polluted sites

Privacy International (UK)

Ground Up (South Africa)

The Australian

• summary of lawsuit available

Univision

• we invited Coca-Cola to respond; response provided

Courthouse News

• summary of lawsuit available

Global Witness

Philippine Star, Inquirer

Amnesty International, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Prachatai

Reuters

Anti-slavery International, Thomson Reuters Foundation, International Labour Forum

• we contacted companies reportedly involved in these projects: Marubeni and Tractebel responded; Dongfang and Harbin Electric have declined to respond; General Electric and Shanghai Electric have not yet responded - we will indicate their response in a future update

Guardian, Morning Star, Doha News, Reuters

• includes statements by ILO, Amnesty Intl, Sharan Burrow of ITUC

Tamkeen Fields for Aid

• conference: Exploring Litigation as a Business and Human Rights Remedy (24 Mar, Galway)
• seminar: Enhancing corporate responsibility through mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence (28 Mar, Brussels)
• conference: East Africa Oil and Gas (28 Mar, Washington DC)
• webinar: OECD paper on responsible business conduct for institutional investors (28 Mar, online)
• conference: RightsCon 2017 (29-31 Mar, Brussels)
• event: UK Modern Slavery Act: one year on (30 Mar, London)
• event: UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights & Climate Change (30 Mar, London)

• Bangladesh Accord Foundation (2 posts: Communication Assistant; Research Assistant)
• Ethical Trading Initiative (2 posts: Programme Consultant; Senior Policy & Advocacy Adviser)
• Fair Food Standards Council (2 posts: Director of Complaint Resolution; Financial Analyst)
• Intl. Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers Association (Executive Director)
• International Human Rights Program at Wellspring Advisors (Program Officer)
• Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Center for Business & Human Rights, New York Univ. (Deputy Director)
• Social Accountability Intl. (Director of Finance & Administration/Operations)