Weekly Update - 16 December 2015

Traidcraft & CORE Coalition; Financial Times blog

• finds 24 allegations of serious human & environmental harm caused by UK-linked businesses in developing countries in last decade
• extractives sector singled out as "regular offender"
• see also our April 2015 briefing: Is the UK living up to its business & human rights commitments? 

• contains key insights & revised approach

Action Aid, Christian Aid & Oxfam

Sif Thorgeirsson & Ciara Dowd, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

IndustriALL

• cites examples in Australia, Canada, Madagascar, Namibia
• we invited Rio Tinto to respond - response provided

• see further details in his open letter

Institute for Human Rights and Business, Civil Rights Defenders & Front Line Defenders

• includes profiles on human rights defenders from Angola, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, Cuba, India, Kenya, Morocco, Myanmar, Peru, Russia 

Harvard Kennedy School; FIFA; Shift, Wall Street Journal, Guardian (UK)

• Ruggie says this work can "set the bar" for other global sports organizations
• due to deliver report & recommendations in March 2016

Business Daily (Kenya)

Mineweb (So. Africa)

• also see our summary profile of So. African silicosis litigation

GhanaWeb

The Nation (USA); Cereal; GoodElectronics Network; Fnsnews

• we invited CommScope, Eaton, Foxconn & Lexmark to respond
• CommScope, Lexmark responses provided
• we will indicate in a future Update whether Eaton, Foxconn respond

Center for Investigative Reporting, on PBS Frontline (USA)

AFP

• uncovers links to global brands

Associated Press

• lists shrimp brands & supermarkets linked to "tainted supply chains"

• we invited Barrick Gold to respond - response provided

Sarah Labowitz, Co-director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights (USA)

Intl. Business Times; China Dialogue

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Inside the Games

• see also: Qatar World Cup continues gross mistreatment of migrant workers

Bloomberg

• course on human rights & Asia, incl. business & human rights (4-15 Jan, Seoul)
• human rights law & the extractive industries (18-19 Feb, Panama City)
• Sedex 2016: "Simplifying Supply Chain Sustainability" (2-3 Mar, London)
• compliance lab on UN Guiding Principles (8 Mar, Copenhagen)
• forum: how to build supply security with smallholder farmers (22-23 Mar, London)

• Centre for Research on Multinatl. Corps. (SOMO) (Coordinator, GoodElectronics Network)
• Clean Clothes Campaign (2 posts: System & Desktop Administrator; Urgent Appeal Campaign Coordinator)
• Corporate Accountability Intl. (Senior Researcher)
• Franciscans Intl. (Intl. Advocacy Director)
• Human Rights Watch (Researcher, Business & Human Rights)
• Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (2016 Summer Internships)