Weekly Update - 9 December 2015

Reuters; Inquirer (Philippines)

• Blog: Why the Philippines could set a climate liability precedent

Ciara Dowd, Legal Research Intern, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• read daily blogs from BSR, Intl. Trade Union Confederation
• catch up on company actions, including 114 companies committing to science-based emission reduction targets
• follow calls by civil society & others to include human rights perspective in company & govt. actions
• see also: Where to find Business & Human Rights Resource Centre at COP 21

• we invited Danone to respond - response provided

Margaret Jungk, UN Working Group on Business & Human Rights

• ILO estimates corporate profits from slavery at USD 150 billion annually
• UN Secretary-General warns of enslavement & trafficking risks for refugees & migrants
• Nestlé's action plan to tackle human rights abuses in Thai seafood supply chain welcomed
• "Forced Labour, Human Trafficking and the FTSE 100: A review of company disclosure and recommendations for investor engagement"
• Financial Times Seasonal Appeal: "How Human Trafficking Spans the World"

News24 Nigeria; Leadership; Premium Times; Daily Independent (Nigeria)

• Bayelsa state govt. demands that company clean up over 1000 spills by 31 Dec
• we invited ENI, the controlling shareholder of NAOC, to respond - response provided

• we invited Paladin Energy to respond but it did not

• President of China pledges to invest a total of USD 60 billion in Africa, tripling the amount from USD 20 billion announced at previous FOCAC in 2012

World Cup and Olympics Popular Committee of Rio de Janeiro

• highlights evictions, police violence, labour abuses

Glencore; Pensamiento y Acción Social, PAS & Arbeitsgruppe Schweiz Kolumbien, ASK

• includes Glencore's response to the report

Guardian (UK); New York Times; Intercept

• company transcripts reveal executives discussing mass shootings & the political dynamics that follow them as lucrative

• response by adidas to rejoinder provided
• previous responses by adidas & Mizuno also provided

Wall Street Journal (USA)

Asian News Intl.; India Today; Intl. Campaign for Justice in Bhopal; Legally India; The Quint (India); Business Standard (India)

US Department of State; Associated Press 

• rights groups raise concerns over decision

Reuters

RT

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes, Baskut Tuncak

IOM & Walk Free Foundation

• 4.08 million Syrian refugees have officially registered their status in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey - and 3.2 million Iraqis have fled ISIS violence in Iraq

• with response by Qatar Govt.

• event on human rights impacts of coal in the global South (Paris, 10 Dec)
• rountdable on role of business in tackling human rights impacts of climate change (Paris, 10 Dec)
• event on role of business in climate change, human rights & sustainable development (Paris, 11 Dec)
• conference on trade, aid & fashion (London, 12 Dec)
• IHRB report launch & panel: human rights defenders & business (London, 14 Dec)
• webinar: Danone's work to eliminate deforestation in supply chain (online, 15 Dec)
• training on access to remedy in EU for victims of corporate abuse (Vienna, 16 Dec)

• British Institute of Intl. and Comparative Law (Intern, Business & Human Rights)
• Danish Institute for Human Rights (2 posts: Business & Human Rights Intern; Research Intern)
• Intl. Alert (Country Coordinator, Liberia)
• Sancroft (2 posts: Senior Consultant, Ethical Trade; Sustainability Strategy Consultant)
• Social Accountability Intl. (Intern)