Weekly Update - 23 September 2015

• Unilever CEO Paul Polman receives UN Champion of the Earth award for leading business world towards "new model of sustainable growth"
• new blog series: expert analysis at the nexus of business & climate justice
• live-stream & follow (#FrontlinesToParis) our Mary Robinson Speaker Series event - "Climate justice and business: Human rights from the frontlines to Paris" (6-8pm EST, 23 Sep)

Greenpeace; Inquirer (Philippines)

(Photo credit: Greenpeace)

• focus on holding companies accountable for contributions to climate change & using litigation to push for stronger regulation of companies’ climate impacts
• includes updates to case profiles & new additions: RWE lawsuit (re climate change impacts in Peru), IGR lawsuit (re water rights in Mexico)
• also available in French, Russian & Spanish

• Jonathan Smithers, Law Society of England & Wales, urges law firms to implement processes & practices to ensure respect for human rights
• Elodie Aba, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, speaks with human rights lawyers challenging corporate abuse around the world

• compare Daimler's response to other automobile companies (Toyota, Volkswagen)

• provides recommendations to govts., companies, civil society, academics, natl. human rights institutions & UN system

European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)

Bella Naija; Vanguard (Nigeria)
 

Geographical (UK)

Institute for Sustainability Africa, in Independent (Zimbabwe)

• violence allegedly linked to loggers & ranchers accused of illegal logging in environmental reserve & indigenous territory

Responsible Sourcing Network, Boston Common Asset Management, Calvert Investments, Trillium Asset Management, US SIF & Walden Asset Management

• court's opinion states companies have a First Amendment right not to be forced to state whether their products are “found to be DRC conflict-free”

Emily Achtenberg, on upsidedownworld.com

Finnwatch

• other criminal cases continue over defamation linked to report exposing labour rights abuses in pineapple industry; penalty up to 7 years of prison in 2nd case
• we contacted six additional companies that were reported to purchase from Natural Fruit and asked them to provide a statement on the case; CV-Trading & St Mamet Conserves responses provided; John Bull and Sandhurst Fine Foods declined to provide a statement; Alceda and Iska have not responded

IndustriAll Global Union

Wall Street Journal

Inclusive Development Intl.

• indigenous communities cited impacts on livelihoods, culture & land rights in previous complaint to World Bank's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman

• NGO letter to Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) claims the company's assessment does not meet OHCHR's criteria
• we invited Barrick Gold to respond - response provided

BBC

• applies to workers in England, Scotland & Wales, but not in Northern Ireland

Stefan Crets, CSR Europe

• further responses by Telenor & VimpelCom provided

Schyst resande

• we invited the companies to respond - responses provided

Peninsula (Qatar)

Egypt Independent

• seeking feedback from companies, investors, civil society & policymakers
• available in English, French, Portuguese & Spanish
• read some of the public feedback received so far

• corporate impacts on multi-dimensional poverty (New York, 26 Sep)
• "Business & Human Rights: Bridging the Governance Gap" (London, 28 Sep)
• do benchmarks & indexes drive change in business practices? (London, 29 Sep)
• consultations on UN treaty on human rights & business (online, 29 Sep - 6 Oct)
• managing climate risk via "public-private-people-partnerships" (New York, 29 Sep)
• from advocacy to implementation on indigenous land & resource rights (Bern, 30 Sep - 1 Oct)

• Fairfood International (2 posts: Experienced Trainings/Inspiring Speakers; Insights Discovery Trainer/Coach)
• Fair Food Standards Council (Financial Investigator, Human Rights)
• PeaceNexus Foundation (Government Sector Programme Manager)
• UN Global Compact (Internships)
• World Resources Institute (Sustainability Manager)