Weekly Update - 26 July 2017

UN Working Group on business & human rights

• Notes social & environmental conflicts caused by large mining operations, repeated oil spills & deforestation have caused 70 deaths in last 5 years
• Working Group calls for new mechanism to better protect human rights defenders, including environmentalists & indigenous leaders

(Credit: Global Landscapes Forum via Flickr (CC BY 2.0 - modified))

Claudia Müller-Hoff & Linde Bryk, European Center for Constitutional & Human Rights​

• Corporate Legal Accountability Programme Manager (based in New York, Washington DC or London, deadline 1 Sept)
• Human Rights Defenders Project Intern (deadline 6 Aug)

• With advice on integrating human rights into corporate mergers, acquisitions & restructuring, contracts including supply, distribution & franchise agreements

Telegraph (UK)

• Article includes statements by Acacia Mining

Univ. of Notre Dame (event co-organised by Univ. of Notre Dame, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, British Institute of  Intl. & Comparative Law, & Univ. of Essex)

• Considers strategy including potential state parties, and substantive issues such as which rights should be covered, state duties including extraterritorial regulation

Paulina Garzón, China Latin-America Sustainable Investments Initiative & Leila Salazar-López, Amazon Watch, in New York Times

Business Daily

Joshua Oigara, CEO of Kenya Commercial Bank, in Daily Nation (Kenya)

This Day

Guardian (UK)

IndustriALL

• We invited Ternium to respond; it did not 

Associated Press; Turtle Island Restoration Network

ABC News

BenarNews

RadioNZ

• Ease with which Bay of Plenty kiwifruit operators break employment laws demonstrates widespread exploitation, says Union Network of Migrants

Guardian (UK)

• With statement by Noble Plantations

VietNamNet Bridge

Access Now, Amnesty Intl. & 12 other intl, European, Middle Eastern NGOs; Motherboard

• See also UK Govt. exports surveillance technology to Turkey amid closing of civic space & arrests of human rights defenders

Guardian (UK)

• Aims to educate staff to spot warning signs of trafficking & sexual exploitation by guests, labour exploitation by external suppliers

Associazione per gli Studi Giuridici sull'Immigrazione; Human Rights Intl. Corner

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)

• We invited Titan to respond; they did not

• Lack of compensatory collective action is a barrier to access to judicial remedy for cases corporate human rights abuses in Europe

• Seminar: Environmental & Land Defenders (27 Jul, London)
• Webinar: Stakeholder Engagement in Human Rights Impact Assessments (28 Jul, online)
• Seminar: Human Rights & Business, (23-25 Aug, São Paulo)
• Workshop: Public Values & Public Goods - How Do They Live in The Intersection of Finance & Human Rights? (6 Sep, Naples)
• Conference: Global Public Goods, Global Commons & Fundamental Values - Responses of Intl. Law (7-9 Sep, Naples)

• Corporate Legal Accountability Programme Manager at Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (deadline 1 Sept)
• Human Rights Defenders Project Intern (deadline 6 Aug)

• Fair Wear Foundation (2 positions: Director & Fundraising Officer)
• New Venture Fund Project: Shine (Campaign Director)
• Ethical Trading Initiative (Operations Officer)
• Project on Organizing, Development, Education, & Research (Director of Finance & Operations)
• Intl. Alert (Corporate Engagement Advisor)
• Shift (Advisor)
• Accountability Counsel (Africa Consultant)