BHR

UN Agent Intervenes in CETA Debate

November 07, 2016

Arguing that the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a "corporate-driven" treaty whose inclusion of an investment tribunal violates human rights, UN Independent Expert Alfred de Zayas has called for a robust UN business and human rights treaty to counter the power of businesses to challenge regulations under treaties like CETA.
Scotland Releases National BHR Assessment

November 07, 2016

As part of its development of a Scottish National Action Plan for Human Rights, the Scottish Human Rights Commission has developed, with two nongovernmental organizations, a National Baseline Assessment on Business and Human Rights (BHR) to determine where the country currently stands on implementing the BHR agenda.
NGOs Use Environmental Precedent for BHR Treaty

November 07, 2016

A coalition of nongovernmental organizations called CIVICUS has called on negotiators of a binding treaty on business and human rights (BHR) issues to use the Aarhus Convention, an instrument requiring countries to offer procedural rights on environmental matters, as a model for a BHR treaty that recognizes citizens' "right to information" on corporate human rights impacts.
Paper Dismisses Duty of Extraterritorial BHR Regulation

November 04, 2016

Claire Methven O’Brien writes in favor of the position of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, but spurned by BHR advocates pushing for states to do more to punish multinational corporations for foreign human rights violations, that governments have no international human rights obligation to prevent BHR abuses committed abroad.
NGO Praises Talks on "Ambitious" BHR Treaty

November 02, 2016

In a press release, Friends of the Earth International has lauded last week's "ambitious and far-reaching negotiation" in Geneva over a binding UN treaty that would require countries to implement the global business and human rights agenda, and praised rules that restricted business participation in the process due to "conflicts of interest."
NGOs Call for Global BHR Tribunal

November 01, 2016

A group of nongovernmental organizations called the Global Campaign has submitted a series of principles for inclusion in a binding UN business and human rights treaty, including directly imposing human rights obligations on corporations, eliminating court costs for alleged BHR victims, and establishing a global tribunal to hear BHR claims.
NGOs: BHR Treaty Must Address Trade Deals

November 01, 2016

A group of nongovernmental organizations known as the Treaty Alliance has called on the working group charged with developing a binding UN business and human rights treaty to establish the primacy of the treaty over any international trade and investment agreements and to set up a mechanism to monitor the BHR impacts of such trade deals.
EU Joins BHR Treaty Meeting amid NGO Pressure

November 01, 2016

The nongovernmental organizations Friends of the Earth Europe and the European Coalition for Corporate Justice have published an article touting their role in pressuring the EU to participate in an upcoming UN summit in Geneva on the development of a binding business and human rights treaty.
Activists Object to Corporate Cooperation on BHR

October 28, 2016

An op-ed by author Sudeep Chakravarti criticizing the participation of multinational corporations in the upcoming UN Forum on Business and Human Rights (BHR) signals the growing discontent among activists with corporate cooperation and a move among NGOs toward BHR litigation and criminal liability approaches.
UN Report Targets BHR Issues in Agriculture

October 28, 2016

The UN Working Group on business and human rights (BHR) issues has released a report examining the obligations the UN Guiding Principles on BHR place on "agro-industrial" businesses and governments to mitigate human rights impacts of agricultural operations on local communities.