Weekly Update - 5 October 2016

Public Eye (Switzerland); Guardian (UK); Agefi; African Refiners Association

• we invited the companies named to respond
• responses by Addax & Oryx Group, Glencore, Vitol, Vivo Energy provided
• Mocoh has indicated it will respond; we will include its response in a future Update
• Gunvoh, Lynx Energy, Mercuria have not yet responded; we will indicate in a future Update whether they respond

(Photo credit: Wikipedia - Zakysant)

Phil Bloomer, Executive Director, in Reuters

• as the deadline for some companies to report under the UK Modern Slavery Act hits, we look at the statements published so far
• explore company statements in our Central Registry

Jamaa Resource Initiatives

Guardian (UK); Climate Institute

Rafael Correa, President of the Republic of Ecuador; Guardian (UK)

IndustriALL

Human Rights Defenders Network Sierra Leone

• we invited Socfin to respond in March; response provided
• we invited Socfin to respond again in September in light of new events; it did not

Eyewitness News; Right2Know

Danwatch

• allege violations of indigenous peoples’ rights & illegal land acquisition case
• see also: Lake Turkana Wind Power updated response to report on wind farm’s impact on indigenous communities

• US court of appeal reverses part of dismissal decision in lawsuit against Drummond over killings in Colombia

  Intl. Rights Advocates

• NGOs express concern over killing of Afro Colombian leader Néstor Martínez, who opposed Drummond’s coal project

  PAX

  • also includes statement by Drummond

Julian Burger, Margarita Escartin, Nataly Ponce & Leo Valladares Lanza; FMO; SOMO & Both ENDS, Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH)

• FMO, Dutch & Honduran NGOs respond to mission report: COPINH calls report a "whitewash", Dutch NGOs welcome FMO statement that it will exit project
• unclear whether project would go ahead without FMO

Reuters

Japanese Federation of Bar Associations

Reuters

New York Times

Indian Express; Hindustan Times; Press Trust of India

Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE)

Anil Yilmaz Vastardis, Univ. of Essex, in EU Law Analysis

Danish Institute for Human Rights & Belarusian Helsinki Committee

BalkanInsight

CBS News; The Citizen Lab

• we invited Netsweeper to respond - it did not

Middle East Eye

• climate change & human rights expert meeting (6-7 Oct, Geneva)
• advancing investigations & prosecutions in corporate human rights cases (6 Oct, London)
• why it makes business sense to defend human rights (11 Oct, London)
• webinar: managing risk of conflict minerals in supply chains (11 Oct, online)
• identifying & responding to child labour in supply chains (12 Oct, London)
• "Towards a UN Treaty on Businesses and Human Rights" (12 Oct, Brussels)
• victims, corporations & new models of criminal justice (13-14 Oct, Milan)
• UL Responsible Sourcing Summit - Europe 2016 (13-14 Oct, Barcelona)

• African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (Research Consultants, Access to Remedy)
• Human Rights Watch (Director, Environment & Human Rights Program)
• Intl. Corporate Accountability Roundtable (Legal & Policy Intern)
• Shift (Business Learning Program Director)
• War on Want (Executive Director)