Business & Human Rights

NGOs Push for Japanese Firms' Divestment from Coal

July 24, 2018

Environmental activist groups have warned they will closely monitor Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s actions following its President’s statement on reconsidering the company’s support of coal-fired power plants, stating that the only viable way forward for the company is a policy that “ceases all new lending to coal fired power generation and coal extraction.”
Academic Considers Trade Barriers Based on Labor Rights

July 24, 2018

In an article with potentially broad implications for using human rights concerns to justify import duties, Aleydis Nissen of Cardiff University’s Department of Law examines whether World Trade Organization (WTO) members are permitted to rely on their citizens’ attitudes regarding child labor to impose import restrictions from companies that use such labor.
CoE Publishes Broad Guidelines on Children’s Digital Rights

July 24, 2018

The Council of Europe (CoE) recently published “comprehensive” recommendations for member states on how to protect child rights online, including a call to ensure children are granted access to the internet free of charge and strict guidelines on how businesses must respect children’s privacy in the digital environment.
NGOs Laud Impacts of EU Extractives Reporting Regulations

July 24, 2018

The nongovernmental coalition Publish What You Pay UK has touted the conclusions of a British government review of reporting by oil, gas, and mining companies on what they pay to governments on a country-by-country basis under EU regulations, finding that this reporting “does not disadvantage” business interests.
CoE Official Seeks Regulation of AI Rights Impacts

July 23, 2018

The Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović has warned that artificial-intelligence (AI) technologies could become an “evil force” violating global rights to privacy, non-discrimination, due process, and expression and calls for AI regulation based on European and UN-promoted human rights standards.