Qatar 2022: Three Rana Plazas in Slow Motion?

The World Cup has been a beloved tradition since 1930 and every four years it attracts millions of fans from around the world to cheer on their teams. Sadly however, the event is no longer just fun and games. Recently FIFA, the organisation that...

A Business and Human Rights Treaty? International legalisation as precision tools

As the business and human rights agenda continues to evolve, further legalization is an inevitable and necessary component of future developments. But we need to ask ourselves what form it should take at the international level. What does experience...

Vodafone’s Transparency Report: Breaking New Ground in the ICT Sector

Last week, UK-based telecom operator Vodafone released its first transparency report as part of the company’s wider 2013-2014 Sustainability Report. It is the latest example of a growing trend among telecommunications companies to explain publicly...

A Business and Human Rights Treaty? We shouldn’t be afraid to frighten the horses

Those of a certain age may remember that quintessentially British comedy Fawlty Towers where the hotel owner, Basil Fawlty, has to keep reminding himself not to upset his German guests by mentioning The War. This is the position civil society...

Rana Plaza – Rebuilding more than the Factory

Moves to protect workers since the Rana Plaza disaster are laudable but a more fundamental rethink of the market remains the only solution.

Over a year ago, 1,129 workers lost their lives and more than 2,500 were injured in a catastrophic...

A Business and Human Rights Treaty? Why Activists Should be Worried

This commentary is the second in a series.

The call by a group of states at the UN Human Rights Council to begin diplomatic deliberations towards a UN treaty on business and human rights has drawn the backing of a growing list of civil society...

A Business and Human Rights Treaty? Smart strategies are needed to close accountability gaps

This is the first contribution in a series.

Despite the progress of recent years in advancing understanding and action on the relationship between business and human rights, gaps in legal accountability continues to be a subject of much heated...

Ensuring Respect for Human Rights at Sea

The international “Human Rights at Sea” (HRAS) initiative was recently launched with the aim of raising the profile, awareness, implementation and accountability for human rights protections throughout the maritime industry, especially where they...

The Invisible Workforce

The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission recently published its report, 'The Invisible Workforce'. This sets out our findings on employment practices in the cleaning sector.

Our key findings include:

• Workers are not treated with dignity and...

Principles, Roadmaps & Recommendations: What’s next for Internet Governance?

The world wide web turns 25 this year, and the year is shaping up to be crucial for the Internet’s future. Concerns over allegations of mass surveillance of digital communications by intelligence services fuelled two recent conferences - NETmundial...

Women’s Leadership Can Transform the Way We Do Business in a Climate-Constrained World

This article was originally published in the HuffingtonPost.

As a global community, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. One path -- the "business as usual" route -- sees us approach a drastically warmer world, where our continuing reliance on...

The Rana Plaza Tragedy in Bangladesh - One Year On

A year ago, over 1,000 workers lost their lives and more than 2,000 were injured in a catastrophic but avoidable industrial accident in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We now know how overcrowded the building was, and how its management ignored warning signs and...

Bringing the Business and Human Rights Agenda to Higher Education in Africa

Earlier this month the European Union announced plans aimed at limiting global trade in minerals mined in conflict zones. While the goal of the new initiative is laudable, the approach being proposed – essentially a voluntary reporting scheme – is...

How to strengthen the EU’s conflict minerals proposals

Earlier this month the European Union announced plans aimed at limiting global trade in minerals mined in conflict zones. While the goal of the new initiative is laudable, the approach being proposed – essentially a voluntary reporting scheme – is...

“Going Out” in Search of Oil and Gas: How Should Chinese Companies Tackle Human Rights Challenges?

Amid soul searching for causes of the unexpected February slump in Chinese exports – maybe it’s the Chinese New Year, or perhaps the start of a real down turn? – China’s overseas direct investments (ODI) continue to flow vigorously.

According to...

Major Sporting Events and Human Rights

Host nations and cities, sports organising bodies and companies must move faster, aim higher, and show stronger resolve

As the 2014 Winter Olympic Games get underway this weekend in Sochi, debates continue to intensify around the responsibilities...

ICT and Human Rights New Year Review

"The Digital Dangers we identified early in 2013 are clearly still important as we head into 2014. The year ahead may uncover still more difficult dilemmas. Our aim for the Digital Dangers project is to build up a body of research that will shed...

Respecting the rights of migrant workers

"All companies need to reduce the distance between themselves, their operations and negative impacts on the rights of migrant workers, consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Business cannot contract out the...

Time for a Grown-up Approach to Tax Justice

Tax dodging has become a big issue in the public debate about business responsibility, recently topping the list of concerns in the UK, ahead of discrimination, supply chain labour standards and human rights. A group of British MPs are calling for...

Apartheid, Mandela, and Business

Apartheid, or the policy of racial segregation that the ruling National Party practiced in South Africa from 1948 to 1991, was not only racist, but also economic. It privileged one group over others, controlling levers of political and economic...