Business & Human Rights

UN Website Presses Businesses on Women's "Empowerment"

September 17, 2014

UN Women has launched a "business hub for gender equality" that uses company "success stories" in empowering women to push for companies around the world to go beyond legal requirements in promoting "gender-responsive" practices.
WEF Pushes Businesses to Fight Climate Change

September 17, 2014

At a meeting organized by the World Economic Forum ("WEF") in China, government participants called on businesses, in the absence of any new legally binding international climate agreements, to fight climate change and fulfill the goal of achieving "common prosperity."
UN Hosts "Sustainability" Meeting with Industry Associations

September 17, 2014

The UN Global Compact recently hosted a meeting with global industry and trade associations on spreading the internationally developed agenda on "corporate sustainability," calling on these groups to pressure their members to accept and implement these principles.
NGOs Claim Legal Duty to Regulate BHR Abroad

September 17, 2014

A group of nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs") have published a report asserting that governments have an obligation under international law to prevent violations of business and human rights ("BHR") principles that occur on foreign soil.
Working Group Chair Expands Mandate on BHR Principles

September 10, 2014

At a conference in London, the Chairman of the UN Working Group on business and human rights ("BHR") said he and other members interpreted their mandate from the UN Human Rights Council in "imaginative ways" to push governments and businesses to provide access to remedies for alleged BHR violations.