Weekly Update - 22 April 2015

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• World Economic Forum on East Asia held in Jakarta 19-21 Apr, with theme "Anchoring Trust in Asia's New Regionalism"
• 1400 gather for ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum, 21-24 Apr, Kuala Lumpur

 

• includes concern that corporations are being treated as holders of human rights 
• response by Special Rapporteur provided

Goldman Environmental Foundation; BBC; Guardian (UK); Global Witness; San Francisco Chronicle 

• winners include activists fighting damaging mines, dams, smelters in Burma, Canada, Honduras, Kenya
• new Global Witness report shows killings of environmental defenders increasing

Business & Human Rights in Ireland blog

Intl. Corporate Accountability Roundtable, Oxfam America, Global Witness

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• see also: US Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal in Alien Tort lawsuit against Chiquita over payments to paramilitaries in Colombia

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, Front Line Defenders, Intl. Service for Human Rights, Open Society Institute for Southern Africa; Guardian (UK)

• Tiffany, Leber Jeweler urge govt. to drop charges

Bloomberg

Colombia Reports

• also see: profile of case brought against Drummond

Survival Intl.

Selma Workers Organizing Committee; Associated Press

• Lear Corp. denies allegations

NPR;  Virginian-Pilot; USA Today;  Lafayette Daily Advertiser 

• communities still waiting for recovery funds from BP amid legal delays 
• long-term environmental impacts on Gulf of Mexico still uncertain
• improvements in oil rig safety noted

Independent (UK); Guardian (UK); Clean Clothes Campaign; Institute for Human Rights and Business

CNA

• court found workplace chemicals & contaminated water caused 61 cancer deaths, hundreds of other illnesses
• also available in Chinese: 台湾史上最严重的工殤事件" RCA前员工十余年后终获赔1800万美元

Fairfood Intl.

• we invited the supermarkets named in the report to respond; responses by Jumbo, Plus, Superunie provided
• Lidl said it did not have any further information to add than what it provided to Fairfood Intl.
• we will indicate in a future Update whether Aldi responds

• refers to apparel, food & beverage companies, restaurants 

Center for Intl. Forestry Research (CIFOR)

Ecologist Film Unit; Channel 4

• comments from British Retail Consortium, Sainsbury's & Waitrose included; Spanish supplier Agroherni denies allegations

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)

Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain; Guardian (UK)

• building a community of practice between business & Indigenous Peoples (New York, 23 Apr)
• "Business & Human Rights: Trends, Challenges & the Road Ahead" (Washington DC, 23-24 Apr)
• company-community mediation training in complex environments (Cape Town, application deadline 24 Apr; course 19-25 Jul)
• forum for Indigenous Peoples facing corporate development (New York, 25 Apr)
• Baku 2015: "Give human rights a sporting chance in Azerbaijan" (London, 28 Apr)
• "Working for Less: Gender Inequality in the Workplace" (New York, 28 Apr)
• conference on the future of tax policy (Brussels, 29 Apr)
• implementing the UN Guiding Principles in complex contexts (Geneva, 29-30 Apr)

• German Institute for Human Rights (Business & Human Rights Internship)
• IKEA Group Sustainability (Strategic Communicator)
• Institute for Human Rights and Business (Administrator)
• Nazdeek (Volunteer Placements)
• Right to Education Project (Legal Volunteer)