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Academic Calls for "Pluralistic" Approach to BHR
December 17, 2015
Assistant Professor Jernej Cernic from Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, writes that advocates of businesses and human rights ("BHR") must adopt a "pluralistic" approach to advancing their agenda, focused both on regulation of business conduct and access to remedies by alleged BHR victims.
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US Supreme Court Rejects Colombia Human-Rights Appeal
December 16, 2015
The US Supreme Court has declined to take up an appeal from a dismissal of a human-rights lawsuit in which plaintiffs accused US-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. and AirScan Inc. of cooperating with Colombian authorities in their bombing of a village near an Occidental pipeline in that country.
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Lawyers: BHR May Become "Hard" Law in Canada
December 16, 2015
Christopher Burkett and Jennifer Bernardo of Baker McKenzie highlight the hardening of what was considered "soft law" in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ("BHR") in the context of a human-rights lawsuit in Canada against Canadian companies for their alleged failure to prevent the collapse of a Bangladesh garment factory in 2013.
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GRI Seeks "Real-time" Business Transparency
December 16, 2015
The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI") has released an article trumpeting its promotion of global standards on the environment and human rights in the context of the recent UN climate-change conference in Paris, and predicting future "real-time" public data from companies on the environmental and social impacts of their decisions.
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EU Committee Pushes Tax Avoidance Legislation
December 16, 2015
The European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee has adopted a set of legislative recommendations for the European Commission to consider instituting a common EU corporate tax base, requiring businesses to report finances on a country-by-country basis, and other proposals that would restrict corporate tax avoidance in the EU.