In the heart of New York City, from August 10th to 12th, 2023, a cohort of twelve scholars hailing from multiple countries, backgrounds and disciplines converged for the 8th Business and Human Rights (BHR) Young Researchers’ Summit.…
This blog post by Dr Tara Van Ho is the first in a series of blog pieces by describing a change or changes the writer would like to see in any part of the field of business and human rights. …
As we enter 2023 here are the most read Business and Human Rights Journal blog posts of 2022: 10 Human Dignity abused is at Number 10 of our most viewed blogs.…
The blog analyses Brazil´s role in the business and human rights agenda after 2014, when two processes came together: the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on a Business and Human Rights Treaty and the Working Group on Business and Human Rights known by its efforts to have the National Action Plans based on the UN Guiding Principles approved.…
Peru is highly dependent on the mining sector (mining accounts for 10% of its GDP and 60% of exports). The Peruvian legal framework promotes mining investments and, at the same time, incorporates business and human rights standards, such as citizen participation in environmental impact assessments (EIA) and prior consultation of indigenous communities before the commencement of operations.…
Dr Oyeniyi Abe’s book Implementing Business and Human Rights Norms in Africa is a vitally important publication that comes at a time of urgent international security challenges and global climate and health emergencies.…
This week, feminists and human rights defenders from around the world will gather in Geneva to push for action on a matter of great urgency – the 8th session of negotiations for a UN Binding Treaty on Business & Human Rights, legislation at the international level that would hold corporations accountable for their business impacts.…
Introduction The UK government’s sanctions on the assets of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich- the owner of Chelsea Football Club (Chelsea) – have brought to light English football’s problematic relationship with foreign capital.…
The failure to hold to account criminally UK companies (and companies which operate in the UK and/or have UK listings) which are complicit in human rights abuses abroad stands in stark contrast to more promising developments in countries such as France, with the Lafarge case, and Sweden with the Lundin case.…
La Guajira: Natural wealth vs exploitation As a Guajira woman, feminist and social researcher, I want to share some personal reflections from the vision of female leadership as caretakers of the land and the fight against different forms of colonization and exploitation present in La Guajira.…
Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) is central to realising their human rights. The access of women towards employment opportunities and economic empowerment is also beneficial for corporations and the wider community.…
The Hong Kong government has vowed to potentially further criminally punish the leaders of the now disbanded the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), which was Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy trade union.…
A dominant idea in international human rights practice is that states must respect human dignity. In the case of Venezuela, human dignity has been systematically and repeatedly violated.…
The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 has resulted in serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.…
Feminist perspectives on inequalities have been long been eclipsed from discussions on business and human rights (BHR). When efforts have been made to put a ‘gender lens’ on business and human rights, these have often been underpinned by neoliberal thinking and the related ‘business case’ for gender equality that merely seeks to insert women into existing markets and labour relations.…
After some unexpected delays as some of the lesser known – and opaque – structures of EU law making came into play, there is finally a published proposal for mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence from the European Commission.…
In a strange meeting of worlds, the beginning of 2022 saw an international tennis championship colliding with Australia’s historical abuse of asylum seekers.…
The new constitution of Mongolia was adopted on January 13, 1992. It stated that respecting and upholding human rights, freedom, and justice are crucial in Mongolia.…
There have been many heartfelt and thoughtful tributes to John Gerard Ruggie since his passing in September 2021. Some academics expressed their sentiments by exploring the ways in which his scholarship profoundly influenced the field of international relations, and their own path in that field.…
Businesses engaging in energy transitions are developing sophisticated tools to report their commitment to tackling environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues.…
The chaotic scenery during the evacuation of Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul following the withdrawal of U.S. troops in August 2021 documents the limitations of the Western approach to spread human rights and democracy globally.…
In June, the judgment of the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in NESTLE USA, INC. v. DOE ET AL diminished the impact of the US Alien Torts Act on US based corporations with international supply chains.…
Pharmaceutical corporations are centrally involved in the fight against Covid-19. In many cases, their research – often generously funded by states – has been of vital importance in the development of vaccines.…
Violence and harassment are pervasive throughout all countries, occupations and workplaces. According to the WHO, 1 in 3 women, around 736 million, are subjected to violence throughout their lifetime.…
Women’s human rights continue to be restricted when it comes to equal access to leadership opportunities. Although there has been a global increase in women’s representation on corporate boardrooms, the number of women leading boardrooms across the globe still remains low.…
In the run up to CoP26, Tesla became the first electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer to have a market value of over $1 trillion.…
Newcastle United is now owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. The UK media has almost universally condemned the takeover, and Newcastle fans support for the takeover, as paradigmatic examples of contemporary amorality, valuing football over human rights.…
Modest, humble, self-effacing, gentle, calm, good humored, and generous—and at the same time one of the most powerful intellects and impactful scholar-practitioners of his time: that was my experience of John Ruggie.…
Climate responses necessitate trade-offs, which may reinforce inequality. A gender and social equity approach is required to ensure that farmers with least resilience benefit from climate action through transformative climate adaptation.…
At the time when the world celebrates the 10th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), their uptake in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe remains extremely low.…
Introduction The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent accountability mechanism for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), private sector arms of the World Bank Group (WBG).…
Sustainable finance is ordinarily considered a force for good aimed at mobilising financial support for climate action (SDG 13), among other environmental objectives.…
The increased importance of human rights due diligence (HRDD) in conflict affected areas or contexts that otherwise have a complex security situation was recently highlighted in the UN Working Group’s report Business, human rights and conflict-affected regions: towards heightened action UNWG 2020.…
We cannot solve problems with the same mindset that created them. -Albert Einstein As I sit to write this post on business and human rights in relation to conflict, the Palestinian people face yet another cycle of violence in their struggle for the right to self-determination, bringing forward the academic challenge that comes with trying to detach one’s self from a personal connection to a topic.…
The most recent Report of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights centered around business and human rights in conflict zones.…
Michael Scott – the incompetent but somehow highly successful manager at the heart of the US comedy The Office – once claimed, “Truth be told, I think I thrive under a lack of accountability.”…
Last October, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights launched its report ‘Business, human rights and conflict-affected regions: towards heightened action’.…
In July 2020, the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (Working Group) issued its report, Business, human rights and conflict-affected regions: towards heightened action (A/75/212), which purports to clarify “the practical steps and outlines practical measures that States and business enterprises should take to prevent and address business-related human rights abuse in conflict and post-conflict contexts, focusing on heightened human rights due diligence and access to remedy” (p.…
On 22 April 2021, the Escazu Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean entered into force.…
In evangelising businesses to follow the UN Guiding Principles, the business and human rights movement has weighed the advantages of wielding the ‘business case’ versus the moral case.…
In this blog post we address a business and human rights issue that emerged from the recent report of Ireland’s Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: that of corporate complicity in unlicensed clinical trials carried out upon incarcerated children.…
Today marks the sixth anniversary that the UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA) was enacted into law. The UK Government has recently announced proposed changes to the transparency in supply chains (TISC) provision of the MSA, which requires companies to detail their efforts to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains.…
This blog post announces the formation of a new special interest group at the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association, Human Rights and Political Economy, sketching some core interests of the field and why they matter today. …
On 1 January 2021 the ‘Regulation (EU) 2017/821 laying down supply chain due diligence obligations for Union importers of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold (3TGs) originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas’ (CAHRAs) came into force.…
Recently, Nestle decided to end the relationship between its Kit Kat brand of chocolates and Fairtrade, a UK based labelling organisation.…
Environmental activist and indigenous leader Berta Cáceres – who in 2015 was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize – was assassinated in Honduras one year later, in 2016, for leading a protest against a hydroelectric power dam.…
Central and Eastern Europe has often been forgotten from business and human rights discourse. Unjustifiably so. Whereas some European countries have been the front-runners in developments in business and human rights standards, several challenges, including systematic business-related human rights abuses, have been prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).…
The late twentieth and early twenty first centuries have […] come to be widely touted as the era of human rights – a sentiment that captures both the preponderance of rights-talk and the immense promise that it invariably carries.…
Our 2019 article Rights Holders’ Participation and Access to Remedies: Lessons Learned from the Doce River Dam Disaster analyses remediation efforts that followed the collapse of the Fundão mining tailings dam in 2015 in Brazil which caused severe environmental, social, and economic losses.…
Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) was only on the statute book for 41 days and not yet in force when Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash introduced a ballot measure asking Californians to exempt them from this key piece of state employment legislation.…
As per 28 September, the total COVID-19 cases in Indonesia reached 278,722, following a single day increase of 3,509 in new cases.…
‘Big Data on BHR: Innovative Approaches to Analysing the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre Database’, a recently published article in the Business and Human Rights Journal, provides new insights into the study of business and human rights (BHR).…
In July 2020, a High Court judgment in Begum v Maran was handed down where, for the first time, an English court has grappled with the controversial issue of “shipbreaking”.…
September 13th is the 50th anniversary of the seminal Milton Friedman article from The New York Times Magazine, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.”…
Prior to the advent of the Factories Act of 1883, India had seen the worst of an unregulated labour market, a convenient indentured labour base for the British Empire which saw workers as dispensable commodities to its profit-making industries.…
Introduction Many state governments of India have amended their labour laws in the wake of the economic crisis posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.…
This post was originally published on the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s website and can be accessed here. The devastating human rights implications of the global COVID-19 pandemic have been thoroughly documented: Civil society has exposed the failure of many governments to protect their citizens and of many businesses to respect human rights in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights.…
As the Covid-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions put in place to attempt containment drag on, around 200,000 merchant seafarers are trapped aboard ships in violation of international law.…
The parliamentary tug-of-war over the ‘Responsible Business Initiative’ (RBI) has come to a preliminary end. It is now certain that the Swiss public will vote on the popular initiative, which aspires to introduce the responsibility of businesses for human rights and the environment abroad into the Swiss Federal Constitution.…
The recent gas leak from the LG polymer gas plant has wreaked havoc in the town of Visakhapatnam in India. A toxic gas – styrene – leaked at around 3 am on May 7 from LG Polymer, a South-Korean-owned local plastic-manufacturing plant.…
Conflict-driven societies are the most difficult places for exercising even basic human rights and are more prone to gross violations of human rights.…
In this time of coronavirus crisis, we are seeing many of the less well-off workforce in the UK and the West under stress.…
Cet article est une traduction réalisée avec l’aide de Pauline Hoerner de l’article de blog suivant : All Eyes on France – French Vigilance Law First Enforcement Cases (2/2) The Challenges Ahead, publié au Business and Human Rights Journal Blog en janvier 2020.…
Cet article est une traduction réalisée avec l’aide de Pauline Hoerner de l’article de blog suivant : All Eyes on France – French Vigilance Law First Enforcement Cases (1/2) Current Cases and Trends publié au Business and Human Rights Journal Blog en janvier 2020.…
Late last month, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) revoked its ban on imports from a Malaysian rubber gloves manufacturer accused of engaging in forced labour.…
The past years have seen a growing interest in the role of businesses in the protection of human rights and the environment.…
The global pandemic Covid-19 has turned the world upside down. Although it is not nearly over, it has already taught all of us: businesses, States and civil society, lessons beyond the outbreak to correct market failures and reshape the global economy to be more inclusive and less of a pollutant.…
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has appealed for human rights to be front and centre of the coordinated international response to the COVID-19 pandemic.…
The first United States (US) human trials of a coronavirus vaccine began in March. These trials are being conducted by a research organisation in Seattle. …
A wild animal displaced from its natural environment enters into contact with other animals in a crowded market. It becomes the vector of a virus, previously unknown to the human body, which is later passed on to humans and starts spreading from person to person.…
This post was originally published as part of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s Corporate Legal Accountability Quarterly Update which can be accessed here.…
The global pandemic has shaken up our societies and global economy. It will run deep in every society worldwide for months and years to come.…
Should Facebook users be treated equally? In late 2018, Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of the Facebook Oversight Board (FOB), a purportedly independent global body that would adjudicate hard cases of content moderation on the platform.…
amfori is a global business association bringing together over 2,400 retailers, brands and associations from more than 40 countries. Our membership contains organizations of all sizes and sectors with a combined turnover of more than one trillion euros.…
In the context of corporate accountability and remedy, the inequality of arms is an oft-cited concern. A corporate opponent is likely to have more financial resources, organization and access to relevant information in the pursuit and course of conflict resolution.…
Individuals, workers, communities, are all exposed to harm, and yet they are on the periphery of transnational regulation, even when they are its critical object.…
In recent years, there has been a considerable increase in attention paid to the benefits and pitfalls of using non-State-based grievance mechanisms as an avenue to seek remedy for business-related human rights abuse. …
There is a good deal of discussion these days about a change of paradigm in the prevailing business model of most companies.…
Experience in several states across Europe shows that the individual sense of whether COVID-19 represents an emergency situation that requires drastic, temporary, behavioral changes and social distancing (#stayathome) appears to differ starkly and, to a certain extent, is dependent on cultural patterns of socializing.…
As the world rushes to counter the continued spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), inevitably human rights will be put at odds with the protection of public health.…
As COVID-19 sweeps around the world, even initially recalcitrant governments are taking drastic action. This consists, in part, of protection for businesses, workers, homeowners and renters who may unable to meet their financial commitments and/or basic needs.…
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, on her visit to Italy in January 2020, outlined the issue of ‘caporalato’ as one of the main priorities of the Italian agricultural sector.…
It’s on everybody’s lips – Covid-19, more commonly referred to as the Coronavirus! Perhaps, like me, you have been glued to the media networks, social media channels and other news outlets trying to understand the scale and scope of one of the biggest surprise pandemics of our times.…
Following civil society organisations’ tireless efforts in Palestine and around the world, the UN Office of the High Commissioner fulfilled the mandate entrusted to it by the Human Rights Council in 2016 by recently publishing a list of 112 companies associated with Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).…
In the past few years there have been a range of national legislation and proposed legislation seeking to create corporate accountability for the human rights impacts of their activities.…
On 12 February 2020, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Commissioner) issued a report on all business enterprises involved in certain activities relating to Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) (Report).…
On 12 February 2020, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Commissioner) issued a report on all business enterprises involved in certain activities relating to Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) (Report).…
Corporate capture, ‘the means by which an economic elite undermine the realization of human rights and the environment by exerting undue influence over domestic and international decision-makers and public institutions,’ is a concept developed by ESCR-Net to understand the extent and mechanisms of corporate influence being exerted over State and international bodies in the modern neoliberal age.…
All eyes are on France as the enforcement mechanism set out in the French Law on the Corporate Duty of Vigilance (the “Vigilance Law”) is now set in motion.…
All eyes are on France as the enforcement mechanism provided in the French Law on the Corporate Duty of Vigilance (the “Vigilance Law”) is now set in motion.…
Rights of Victims The Revised Draft has evolved to a more robust victim-centric approach under Article 4 and other relevant provisions that expand the rights of victims.…
Introduction While under classical international law the State was the main subject of rights and duties, international human rights law has marked a shift from a State-centric to a victim-centric approach.…
The revised draft of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group’s business and human rights treaty released on July 16, 2019 is a significant improvement on the Zero Draft in terms of its structure, coherence, and its application to all business activity, not simply transnational.…
We are delighted to announce the launch of our first BHRJ blog symposium. Over the coming days, we will publish nine pieces from scholars and practitioners around the world covering the theory and practice of extraterritoriality in relation to business and human rights.…
If there is one thing I have learned about teaching business and human rights for 20 years--most recently at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley, California--and before that as a case writer at Harvard Business School, it is the importance of making the business case for human rights.
Until recently, the U.S. legal academy has taken a relatively narrow approach to to business and human rights scholarship...
The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ values and behaviours, Courage, Innovation, Respect, Collaboration, Learning and Excellence combine into the CIRCLE acronym. In the list under Excellence, a link takes you to core values for psychiatrists. One of those is humility.
I sat on a Zoom call with a psychologist from Edinburgh. My mental state, not my autistic son's, was in question.
The July 2023 edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International – features an article by Dr Olasunkanmi Onifade, Oral Medicine Consultant, Nigeria.
The October edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International – features a short blog by Motswana visual artist, Sedireng Mothibatsela, who writes about a crucial moment in her artistic development which coincides with her parent’s separation. It is a moving piece about how visual arts intersects with trauma and healing. I can recall the afternoon that changed how I create. I was 12 years old and in my last year of primary school and the looming high school years ahead presented many questions about how I wanted to proceed with my art. I had painted a watercolour still life and I was bored with it. Although my art received praise from my family and peers, my handling of watercolour was juvenile at best. I needed more; technically and conceptually. It was then that I began to question the art making process. Like most young artists in primary school we were simply taught that “good art is pretty art.”
The Akan people of Ghana, like many other collectivist cultures, have deeply engrained concepts of interdependence and support for each other. These concepts have been passed on for generations in the Adinkra symbols. Each symbol possesses an intrinsic meaning and represents virtues, values or beliefs critical to the Akan experience of life.
The July edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International –features a short interview with Nora Awolowo, a Nigerian film director whose documentary film Baby Blues: Trials of Childbirth is a 74-minute-long exposé about maternal mental health in Nigeria.…
More and more research is finding inflammation as a potential contributing factor towards to the development of various mental illnesses. A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between parasitic infection and mental illnesses in various African populations. Two parasite groups were evaluated; helminths and protozoans, and four mental illness classifications; depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, schizotypal disorders and unspecified mental illnesses.
More and more research is finding inflammation as a potential contributing factor towards to the development of various mental illnesses. A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between parasitic infection and mental illnesses in various African populations. Two parasite groups were evaluated; helminths and protozoans, and four mental illness classifications; depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, schizotypal disorders and unspecified mental illnesses.
In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) into law, with the goal to “end welfare as we know it.”…
In 2012, a Conservative-led coalition implemented austerity measures to restore the UK’s finances. The measures aimed to address the increase in public spending that had occurred during the Great Recession and included significant cuts to public services in the form of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act.…
National parliaments had been for long time losers of European integration with only very limited competences of information on new EU initiatives and of rubber-stamping transposition law compared to the national governments, which often negotiate EU law at the supranational level and propose its transposition acts at the national level.…
At the end of the Greek Bronze Age, between c.1400-1200 BCE, the Mycenaean palaces of Crete and mainland Greece used small clay tablets to keep their accounting documents.
As Douwe Truijens and Marcel Hanegraaff have recently remarked (Truijens and Hanegraaff 2023), interest groups can play a very large role at the implementation stage of the policy cycle, potentially even reversing decisions made earlier in the cycle.…
With 2023 on the horizon, and the landscape of academic publishing in flux, Cambridge University Press spoke to the Editors of the SAA’s journals to find out what topics and questions are currently front of mind – for archaeologists, researchers and publishers alike.…
When a "nightmare dressed like a daydream" meets "mad, bad, and dangerous to know..."
Today is the 200th anniversary of Byron's death, the original tortured poet, and the release of @taylorswift13's new album.
Can you tell their lyrics apart? 🔗 https://cup.org/3U7P5VV
Congratulations to Michael Byers, Aaron Boley and Ignacio Cofone who have been shortlisted for the 2023 Donner Prize.
The award, for the best public policy book by a Canadian, will be announced in May.
🔗 https://cup.org/4aEq4ZN
'We are aware that infusion fluids can both save and hurt patients'.
Find out about modern Fluid Therapy in this week's featured author blog by Professor Robert Hahn
🔗 https://cup.org/3Q5YVqa
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