Weekly Update - 29 July 2015

• briefing finds improvements in mining sector's commitments, no commitments to free, prior & informed consent by oil & gas companies
• includes recommendations to companies, governments & industry groups
• also provided: Oxfam paper suggests fusing community & company-led human rights impact assessments

(photo credit: Oxfam/Patrick Brown)

• lessons from Arms Trade Treaty by Marilyn Croser from CORE Coalition
• participation & debate on proposed treaty needs to improve to “reach the finishing line”, says Carlos Lopez from the Intl. Commission of Jurists
• NGOs need to push govts. to show leadership in business & human rights treaty process, says Phil Bloomer in the Guardian

Lowell Chow & Annabel Short, in South China Morning Post

Reuters

• commentaries by Fortify Rights, Humanity United, Cotton Campaign, Malaysian Bar Association

• we invited companies mentioned in the report to respond; responses by BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil & Peabody Energy provided
• Chevron & Shell did not respond

• US appeals court dismisses lawsuit against Ford & IBM brought by South African apartheid victims
• US appeals court orders Securities and Exchange Commission to release Chiquita’s Colombian paramilitary payment files

Amnesty Intl.; Guardian (UK)

• response by Golden Veroleum Liberia provided

Agence France-Presse

• previous response by Eskom provided

Reuters

• Codelco calls for dialogue with trade union workers & contractor firms

• we invited Hugo Boss to respond - it did not

Intl. Corporate Responsibility Roundtable (ICAR) & Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBI)

Intl. Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) & World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

China Dialogue

Myanmar Times; Intl. Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations

• we invited Bagan Hotel River View to respond - it did not do so

Intl. Commission of Jurists; Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business

Economic Times (India)

UK Prime Minister's Office & Home Office

• we invited Alma TV, Altel, Arna, Astel, Kar-Tel, Kazakhtelecom, KazTransCom, KCell/TeliaSonera, Mobile Telecom Service, Nursat & TransTelekom to respond
• KCell/TeliaSonera responded - we will indicate whether Mobile Telecom Service responds in a future Update

European Commission

• also provided: commentary by European Coalition for Corporate Justice

Agence France-Presse

Egyptian Center for Economic & Social Rights

Guardian (UK)

Jordan Times

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• Global Child Forum 2015 (Pretoria, 8 Sep)
• training course on human rights for business people (London, 8 Sep)
• supply chain management & the UN Guiding Principles (Copenhagen, 16 Sep)
• business training on advancing due diligence approach (Frankfurt, 16 Sep)
• Climate Week NYC 2015 (New York, 21-27 Sep)

• ELBA (2 posts: Project Coordinator, Mentoring Works; Project Manager, Employment & Skills)
• Fair Food Standards Council (Human Rights Investigator)
• International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (Legal & Policy Coordinator, Remedy Programs)
• Legal Assistance for Economic Reform (Resident Adviser) 
• Sedex (2 posts: Capability Building Manager; Marketing Executive)