5 December 2018 

Thomson Reuters Foundation; The Conversation

• Act is world’s second national anti-slavery law & requires large companies with operations in Australia to publish annual statements on risks of modern slavery in their supply chains & remedial actions taken
• Law praised by campaigners but some groups criticise lack of penalties for companies who fail to comply 
• See our new blog series dedicated to this issue, including a first piece discussing whether the act will live up to expectations

• Average company score is low (37 out of 100), with three luxury brands scoring less than 15 out of 100 (LVMH, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Prada)
• Top performers include Adidas, Lululemon, and Gap 

• Only seven out of 38 companies surveyed had publicly available human rights policies
• Companies lack awareness of the significant human rights risks in their sector, particularly for migrant workers & refugees

ECLT Foundation

New York University School of Law

• Govt. in Canada to face youth-led lawsuit over insufficient action on climate change
• Vanuatu govt. may sue fossil fuel companies & other countries over climate change & the "existential threat" it poses to the islands
• Follow the latest news on business & human rights at COP24, including five demands to ensure climate actions respect human rights

Sherpa; Reuters

• We invited Vinci to respond; response provided

Deutsche Welle; ECCHR

UN Women; Guardian (UK)

Publish What You Pay

• Country is on its third attempt to join the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, previous candidacies were unsuccessful because of govt. crackdown on civil society
• We invited Chevron, Clontarf Energy, ExxonMobil, Kosmos Energy, Marathon Oil, Noble Energy, Ophir Energy and Total to respond; responses provided for Clontarf Energy and Total, the other companies did not respond

Foreign Policy

• We invited Malawi Mangoes, a company featured in this article, to respond; response provided

Ghanaian Times

Guardian (UK)

• Desa’s president is accused of masterminding killing and faces trial separately; he and the company deny all wrongdoing
• Activists have criticised the lack of investigation into the possible role played by politicians & the military in killing

HuffPost

• Money comes from the significant tax cuts President Trump awarded US corporations last year, which Patagonia CEO called “irresponsible,” saying company taxes fund vital services

Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, MiningWatch Canada & Amnesty International

Associated Press; The Verge

• Position information and other data points being transmitted to Chinese govt. monitoring centres; critics say the data could be used for surveillance
• Companies allegedly involved include BMW, Daimler, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Tesla, Volkswagen; article includes comments from some of these

The Intercept; The Verge; Google; CNBC; Google Employees Against Dragonfly

• Second letter from Google employees expressing concern over “Project Dragonfly” declares leadership’s response has been “unsatisfactory”
• Company spokesperson states project is exploratory and no decision has been made about whether it will be launched

South China Morning Post; World Press Photo

Various natl. & intl. groups

Cambodian Center for Independent Media

Financial Times; Reuters

Public Eye; SwissInfo

Frank Bold; Business & Human Rights Resource Centre et al. 

Al-Haq

The National (UAE)

Times of Oman

• The History and Future of the Business and Human Rights Movement (6 Dec, Oxford)
• Human rights impact assessment masterclass (12 Dec, Singapore)
• The Supply Chain Summit Series (12-13 Dec, San Diego)

• Development Officer: Monitoring and Evaluation

• Mott MacDonald (Social Scientist; Senior Social Safeguards Consultant)
• PILnet (Deputy Director)
• Institute for Human Rights and Business (Built Environment Programme Manager)
• International Committee of the Red Cross (Private Partnerships and Philanthropy Trainee)
• International Alert (IT Assistant)
• MSI Integrity (Human Rights Analyst)
• Anti-Slavery (Business & Human Rights Officer)
• Transform Finance (Research and Advisory Services Manager)
• British Institute of International and Comparative Law (Research Assistant)
• Center for Economic and Social Rights (Program Officer)
• Norwegian People's Aid & Norwegian Union of General and Municipal Employees (Report-writing Consultancy)