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ILO, EU, OECD Launch Asian Corporate Responsibility Initiative
December 13, 2018
The International Labour Organization (ILO), EU, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have launched a three-year initiative pushing for companies operating or engaging with suppliers in six Asian countries to comply with global social and environmental standards.
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UN Report Seeks Rights-Centered Corporate SDG Strategies
December 13, 2018
The UN Global Compact has published a report explaining how companies around the world must “adopt a principles-based approach that places human rights at the centre of their strategy” to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including through human rights “risk assessments” and supporting rights throughout their supply chains.
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UN Official Warns of Global Warming as Human Rights Threat
December 12, 2018
Reflecting long-standing calls from nongovernmental organizations to jumpstart the corporate “climate action” agenda by linking it to human rights and sustainable development, UN Global Compact Executive Director Lise Kingo identifies global warming as a “new man-made threat” to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Australian Government Reforms OECD Contact Point
December 10, 2018
In November, the Australian Treasury Department announced a series of reforms to the country’s National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, including the creation of an “Independent Examiner” and advisory board to increase the body’s independence and reduce its accountability to government.
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UN Launches Business Platform on SDG Peace, Justice Targets
December 05, 2018
The UN Global Compact recently launched a two-year “Action Platform” pushing businesses, through dialogue and international standards, to contribute to the achievement of targets under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to “peace, justice, and strong institutions.”
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NGOs File OECD Complaint over Italian Factory Audit
December 04, 2018
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and other organizations have filed a complaint with the Italian National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises alleging that an Italian auditor violated the Guidelines by certifying the safety of a factory in Pakistan weeks before it caught fire in 2012.
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OECD Contact Point Receives Complaint over Coffee Production in Brazil
November 30, 2018
OECD Watch reports that a nongovernmental organization and a union recently filed a complaint with the Brazilian national contact point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises pushing for mediation with a group of food and coffee companies to resolve alleged poor treatment of workers in their supply chains.
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IKEA Faces Employment Complaint in OECD Contact Point
October 03, 2018
The UNI Global Union and other workers' organizations have filed a complaint with the Dutch National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises accusing furniture giant IKEA of failing to prevent store managers in the US, Ireland, and Portugal from interfering with employees' right to collective bargaining.
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UN Launches Digital Platform on Corporate SDG Action
September 19, 2018
The UN Global Compact, a “corporate sustainability” network aimed at advancing the UN’s social and environmental goals among the business community, has launched a digital platform called the Academy as a new tool to train business leaders how to help the UN achieve its expansive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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SDG Business Forum Seeks Small Business Buy-in
August 01, 2018
At the third annual Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Business Forum, hosted in New York by two UN agencies and the International Chamber of Commerce, UN officials and other speakers focused on pushing small and medium-sized businesses to accept and contribute to the UN’s comprehensive “sustainable development” agenda.