Weekly Update - 23 March 2016

• after 2 years of development, Corporate Human Rights Benchmark releases methodology to be used in pilot ranking
• top 100 companies from the agricultural products, apparel & extractives industries will be assessed
• results will be released in Nov 2016

Ruth Kelly, Programme Policy Manager, ActionAid UK

Anna Triponel, Business and Human Rights Advisor

• Project Manager, Iran Foreign Investment Tracking Project (London or Europe - deadline 28 Mar) 
• IT & Digital Security Volunteer (London or remotely - rolling applications)
• Internships (Various locations - rolling applications)

• includes 30 companies; based on UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework

• Clean Clothes Campaign says standard diverts responsibility away from brands, dangerously relies on certification & inspections, fails to require living wage

Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands

Law Society Gazette (UK)

Ethical Corp.

RAID & MiningWatch Canada

• report concerns mechanisms of Acacia Mining & Kamoto Copper Corp. (owned by Glencore)
• we invited Acacia Mining & Glencore to respond - responses provided

Natl. Association of Professional Environmentalists

RAID; UK Natl. Contact Point for OECD Guidelines

Freedom House

• NGOs say it is imperative to provide security to local leaders, given “tensions in the region over communal rights to natural resources”

Sarah Labowitz, New York Univ. Stern Center for Business & Human Rights

AIDA, Committee in Defense of the Water & Páramo of Santurbán, CIEL, MiningWatch Canada, SOMO

Asian Correspondent

No to the Eviction of Nojukusha for the Olympics and the March 2 Repression at the Proposed New National Stadium Site Rescue Committee

Korea Times

Intl. Business Times

Professor Surya Deva, for Ethical Trading Initiative

Associated Press, Buenos Aires Herald

• workers not paid with money, have no contract or rights to sick or holiday pay

CEE Bankwatch Network

Intl. Labor Rights Forum

• commentary: Forced labour continues in Uzbek & Turkmen cotton fields despite monitoring by ILO 

ILO; Reuters; Doha News

Haaretz; MWC News

• announcement also available in Chinese

Global Compact Network Australia; Australian Lawyers for Human Rights

Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

• roundtable on impact of UN Guiding Principles (29 Mar, Washington DC)
• debate: effectiveness of workers' rights campaigns (31 Mar, London)
• speaker event on private sector support for SDGs (31 Mar, New York)
• consultation on corporate obligations under a binding treaty (31 Mar, Geneva)
• business coaching on human rights due diligence (19-20 Apr, Munich; register by 31 Mar)
• "EU Roadmap to Business & Human Rights Conference" (11 May, Amsterdam; register by 31 Mar)
• forum on forced labour in global supply chains (5 Apr, Kuala Lumpar)

• Accountability Counsel (Policy Associate)
• CESR (2 posts: Program Officer, Accountability & Rights Monitoring; Program Officer, Human Rights in Economic Policy & Sustainable Development)
• CORE Coalition (Board Members & Treasurer)
• Response Global Media (Events Coordinator, Japanese speaker)
• Zalando (Senior Manager Ethical Trade)