Weekly Update - 2 December 2015

• company commitments on mitigation & adaptation, including by B Team leaders, We Mean Business coalition & others
• civil society calls for govts. & companies to prioritise needs of the most vulnerable in climate actions
• see also: latest news on Business & Climate Justice | new report on human rights impacts of coal in the Global South

(Photo credit: COP 21)

Dejusticia and Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• report & documentary examines human rights impacts of coal in India, Colombia, Egypt, and South Africa
• we invited Cerrejón Coal to respond; response provided
• also provided: executive summary in Chinese

• Xayaburi dam lawsuit (re displacement & impacts on livelihoods in Laos & Thailand)
• Odebrecht lawsuit (re forced labour in Angola)

World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Human Rights

• proposes “fair allocation of the preventative and remedial costs” among global companies, local business partners, govts., unions & others
• with commentary by Michael Posner, NYU, & Marcela Manubens, Unilever

UN Working Group on business & human rights

• finds potential impacts on local dairy farmers' livelihoods & rights, proposes mitigation steps

Independent (UK)

• Survival Intl. reports most Bushmen still have no access to clean water, face arrest, beatings & torture by paramilitary police, state-funded wildlife scouts

Folha de São Paulo; Australian Associated Press; Guardian (UK)

• Vale admits that part of dam was built using waste from one of its mines

Upside Down World

Amigos da Terra Brasil, Associação Brasileira Interdisciplinar de AIDS, Conectas Direitos Humanos, Justiça Global, Fórum da Amazônia Oriental & others

Bangkok Post

• "What is at Stake?": expert commentaries on lawsuit, including from Stimson Center, EarthRights Intl., Univ. of Sydney, Intl. Rivers
• also provided: case profile of lawsuit

Financial Times (UK); Time (USA)

• India’s central bank governor warns stifling debate & dissent could harm economic progress

Cambodia Daily

Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center

Intl. Work Group for Indigenous Affairs; Russian Reader

• we invited Petropavlosk to respond; it did not do so

EurActiv (Belgium)

Moscow Times

Mada Masr (Egypt)

• company says it intends to review salaries in early 2016
• workers acknowledge improvements in working conditions since Kellogg's acquisition of Bisco Misr

Independent (UK)

• discussion on corporate social responsibility & compliance (Berlin, 3 Dec)
• Pinocchio Awards 2015 - special climate edition (Paris, 3 Dec)
• workshop on proposed UN treaty on business & human rights (Paris, 4 Dec)
• business forum on progress & commitments to climate action (Paris, 7-8 Dec)
• holding business accountable via alternative dispute resolution (London, 7 Dec)
• Overseas Private Investment Corp. roundtable on environmental & social policy statement (Washington DC, 9 Dec)
• conference on trade, aid & fashion (London, 12 Dec)

• Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (Development Director, UK/Europe)
• British Institute of Intl. and Comparative Law (Intern, Business & Human Rights)
• Danish Institute for Human Rights (Business & Human Rights Intern)
• Intl. Alert (Country Coordinator, Liberia)
• Sancroft (2 posts: Senior Consultant, Ethical Trade; Sustainability Strategy Consultant)