ICT, Human Rights & Business: A Roundup of 2014 and Challenges for 2015

As 2015 begins, it is that time again to take stock of key developments over the past 12 months in the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector and their links to international human rights principles and standards. The ICT sector...

Settlement Involving Niger Delta Fishermen Leaves Shell More Exposed Than Ever

It is paradoxical that a court action taken against Shell by Niger Delta fishermen is likely to have greater consequences than a ground-breaking United Nations report. There has been no real progress since the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP)...

Time for a NAP: Five Recommendations for the U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct

Participants at this year’s UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights were abuzz about “National Action Plans” (NAPs) on business and human rights.

By definition, NAPs are government-led policy documents that should spell out priorities and...

Bhopal and the Elusive Quest for Justice

I write this from India, where thirty years ago, in the central Indian city of Bhopal, a cloud of poisonous chemical methyl isocyanate emerged from the fertilizer plant of Union Carbide Corporation, killing more than two thousand people almost...

The Post-2015 Agenda Needs to Set its Private Sector Priorities

Last week the Hungarian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade hosted the 7th Annual Budapest Human Rights Forum. The event brought together a diverse group of participants to discuss a range of pressing issues.  

These included preventing mass...

Due Diligence and Fear

John Morrison’s thoughtful and thought-provoking new book, The Social License: How to Keep Your Organization Legitimate, features many quotations from experts working at the intersection of business and human rights. One of the most compelling is...

A “New Deal” Between Governments and Tech Companies?

Robert Hannigan, the new Director of one of the UK’s intelligence agencies, GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), has taken over at a time when the agency is facing scrutiny on an unprecedented scale in its 100-year history.

GCHQ has been...

OECD’s Human Rights Grievance Mechanism as a Competitive Advantage

The link between the National Action Plans for Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines

Currently the UN Working Group is seeking consultation on what substantive elements should be included in National Action Plans (NAPs) for business and...

The Private Security Industry and Human Rights: An update on the ICoCA

Much of the press coverage concerning the recent criminal conviction of four former Blackwater security guards in a United States District Court has focused on the difficulty and length of time it took for the case to finally work its way through...

Of aims and means: Toward greater Coordination and Harmonization of Efforts

As earlier posts in this series have noted, the UN Human Rights Council’s decision earlier this year to explore a binding treaty on business and human rights is a potential turning point in international efforts to ensure state and corporate...

Government Approval Not Enough, Businesses Need Social License

This article was originally published on YaleGlobal Online

Globalization drives business deals around the globe along with keen new awareness about social, environmental and other consequences of development. Best business practice now demands...

UK Modern Slavery Bill: Will it protect, respect and ensure access to redress for workers?

If I were to rate the current draft of the UK Modern Slavery Bill on the degree to which it will protect, respect and give access to remedy for workers, I’d give it 4/10.

Surprising, right?

The Modern Slavery Bill is the first of its kind, and the...

The Challenges and Opportunities of Myanmar’s New ICT Networks

The speed at which Information Communications Technology (ICT) develops is apparent in most countries in the world, but none more so than Myanmar in 2014. The mobile and internet infrastructure is being modernised and expanded rapidly from a...

Quo Vadis? Unsolicited Advice to Business and Human Rights Treaty Sponsors

In June of this year, a group of countries led by Ecuador succeeded in persuading the UN Human Rights Council to initiate negotiations aimed at regulating the conduct of multinational corporations. Preparations are now under way in Geneva and...

Investment in Africa: Thinking Beyond Stereotypes

This week President Obama will host the US-Africa Leadership Summit, a gathering of 51 Heads of State from across Africa.

The meeting in Washington, DC should discuss the kind of investments that not only promote economic growth, but that also help...

The Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee Leads the Race. Will others follow?

This week the Scottish city of Glasgow gets set to welcome 4,500 athletes from 71 nations as it hosts the XX Commonwealth Games. Potentially a billion people will be watching the Commonwealth Games, the third mega-sporting event (MSE) to be held...

New UN Human Rights Commissioner Needs to Get Down to Business

This piece was originally published on OpenDemocracy.net

Amidst many priorities, the High Commissioner must focus on the problem of ensuring companies respect human rights, at a moment when a hard fought consensus on how to do so is at risk of...

The Past as Prologue? A Moment of Truth for UN Business and Human Rights Treaty

Calls to regulate transnational corporations (TNCs) through an international treaty instrument go back to the 1970s. Pressure for a treaty has come most persistently from activists, and more intermittently from developing countries. A recent civil...

A Business and Human Rights Treaty? More immediate actions would make a bigger difference

In the fifth and final part of our series on the implications of a proposed new international treaty addressing human rights abuses involving businesses, IHRB's Salil Tripathi offers his reflections on the road ahead.

Imagine if all governments...

Tipping Point? Could the new ILO protocol on forced labour and human trafficking make a lasting difference?

Last week the US State Department produced its annual Trafficking in Persons Report. The TIP report, as it is known, ranks 188 countries according to the prevalence of forced labour and trafficking and their efforts to curb it.

The global nature of...