Weekly Update - 7 December 2016

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• 100 companies contacted - report highlights shocking lack of transparency and action overall; shares examples of good practice in areas such as recruitment, subcontractor accountability

• searchable online database in English and Arabic
• media coverage 
• following the 5 Dec report launch, Bam International and OHL submitted survey responses; Vinci/QDVC updated answer on worker participation; United Engineering Construction (UNEC) sent information on Taqdeer Award; Al Jaber Group is preparing a response

Miriam Saage-Maaß & Patrick Kroker, European Center for Constitutional & Human Rights

• see also: Lawsuit launched by NGOs against Lafarge in France over allegations of financing ISIS & complicity in war crimes in Syria
• Lafarge investigating the complaint, says it does not do business with organizations classified as terrorists

Australia Institute; Responsible Investor

• we invited Broadspectrum (centre operator), Ferrovial & Norges Bank to respond - responses provided
• Norges Bank has referred its investment in Ferrovial to the Council on Ethics; Ferrovial will not be renewing its investment in the centres after Oct 2017

Palestine Forum Japan; Osaka Chamber of Commerce

• we invited C.T. Machinery, Murata Manufacturing, Nitto, Panasonic & Ricoh to respond - Ricoh provided a response; C.T. Machinery, Murata Manufacturing and Nitto did not
• Panasonic confirmed it had participated in a mission to Israel by Osaka Chamber of Commerce, but declined to comment further

Accountability Counsel & 17 partner orgs.

Intl. Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco & Allied Workers’ Associations

• we invited PepsiCo to respond - PepsiCo has indicated that they will respond - we will include the response in a future update

Institute for Human Rights and Business

• Tanzania: Local communities consistently dissatisfied with compensation for land acquisitions by extractive firms
• Kenya: Communities affected by extractive operations cite inadequate consultation

Public Eye

Kumakomo Community Radio Station; Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association & 8 partner NGOs; Maunga Maanda & Associates; 263 Chat

Survival Intl.

• the defenders were also attempting to save their uncontacted Awá neighbors from extinction; bodies were brutally dismembered

Intl. Rights Advocates; Telesur; EarthRights Intl.; Wisconsin Gazette

• the court rules that due to serious security risks for victims in Colombia the case should be litigated in the US
• see also: summary profile of lawsuit

• companies ranked on issues such as fair pay, non-discrimination, worker treatment, supply chain impact and US job-creation

• workers claim they were underpaid, lived in poor conditions & passports were confiscated
• McDonald's has dropped a labour supply agency in Malaysia since allegations emerged
• we invited Human Connection HR to respond - it did not, but it intends to hold a meeting on the issue & respond soon

Phnom Penh Post; Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation; Environmental Justice Atlas

• we invited Hengfu Sugar to respond to the allegations - it did not

Progressive Voice

Licadho

Qian Cheng, in Open Global Rights

compiled by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• see also: summary profile of lawsuit against Union Carbide/Dow Chemical

Global Witness; European Commission; Reuters

European Coalition for Corporate Justice

eHotelier editor; Reuters

Intl. Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School; Norwegian Refugee Council Jordan

G4S; Evening Standard; Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights

• roundtable: Intl. Finance Corp.'s investment in Assam tea plantations (12 Dec, Washington DC)
• breakfast briefing on transparency - pros, cons, impacts, issues (15 Dec, London)
• course on human rights & Asia, inc. business & human rights (9-20 Jan, Seoul)
• online course on decent work in global supply chains (starts 12 Jan, online)
• two-day course for lawyers on privacy rights (23-24 Jan, apply by 20 Dec, London)
• 'Land Rights, Risk, and Conflict in Africa' (9 Feb, Dakar)

• Center for Strategic and International Studies (Research Fellow, Human Rights Initiative)
• City of San Diego (Minimum Wage Program Coordinator)
• Intl. Corporate Accountability Roundtable (2 posts: Legal & Policy Associate; Legal & Policy Fellow)
• PODER (Program Director – Strategic Engagement, Advocacy Campaigns & Public Relations)
• Urgent Action Fund-Africa (2 posts; Communications & Knowledge Management Programme Officer; Partnerships & Development Manager)