Kiobel Case a Reminder of Remedy Gaps Still to be Bridged

This week, the United States Supreme Court is at the centre of the global business and human rights agenda.

The Court is hearing oral arguments in Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., a highly anticipated case expected to determine whether claimants...

The Dow Side of Corporate Sponsorship

This op-Ed was originally published on TheHindu.com.

Coke and GE then, Dow now.

But there is a crucial difference: no one was accusing companies sponsoring the Beijing Games of being complicit in human rights abuses in Darfur. In Dow's case, many...

Technology companies, free expression and privacy

Apple has come under heavy scrutiny and criticism in recent months for abusive supply chain labour practices. Its decision to join the Fair Labor Association has been hailed as an important step in the right direction: a public commitment to its...

The Next Generation of Social Responsibility Leaders

"Apple’s decision to join FLA sets a new standard for the technology industry, and reinforces that supply chain issues and protecting workers’ rights are not just the responsibility of apparel and footwear brands. It’s time for another generation of...

Time to establish human rights criteria for selecting corporate sponsors

The resignation of Meredith Alexander from the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 Olympics raises the question of the factors organisers consider in deciding supporters for such major events. Dow Chemical’s sponsorship of the Olympics has been...

Are business leaders ensuring respect for LGBT rights?

"60 years ago, the governments that drafted and passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were not thinking about how it applied to the LGBT community. They also weren’t thinking about how it applied to indigenous people or children or...

Social Media & Human Rights: Keeping the virtual world one step ahead of the real world

"The premise of the virtual world is freedom. Forward-thinking companies, governments, journalists and others with a stake in freedom of expression, as well as the human rights community, must remain vigilant, and work more effectively together to...

Joint Action Needed to Address Land Grabbing

For the past decade, foreign investors have been looking for greener pastures in Africa. Some foreign governments and private enterprises acquire long-term leases of large portions of arable land as part of efforts to secure sufficient food and...

Time for tourism industry to put human rights on its agenda

This week, over 47,000 tourism industry representatives from 189 countries will convene in London for the annual World Travel Market. Business deals worth millions of dollars will be struck and thousands of tourism products will be bought and sold....

Robinson and Ruggie bring a lot to the table

Jack Ucciferri doesn’t mince words. His op ed in the Huffington Post laments a world facing a “fundamental democratic deficit” with leaders who “don’t seem able to discern what the people are saying.”

We share Mr. Ucciferri’s impatience with...

Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference: Not your ordinary discussion on business and human rights

Call me an optimist. Over the past decade I have attended several conferences dealing with business and human rights in many parts of the world, and at many places the conversation stays on the ground floor.

Do human rights matter to business? Is...

Teaching Business and Human Rights: Challenges and Opportunities

In 1994, I stumbled upon a business course, “Transnational Business and International Human Rights,” that highlighted the relevance of international human rights standards for business managers. It was an eye-opening subject for a human...

Continuing a Dialogue with Vodafone on Human Rights Due Diligence

Media coverage of last week’s Labour conference speech by Ed Miliband, in which the UK opposition leader criticised “predatory” companies” prompted me to write to the Financial Times with the straightforward but too often forgotten message that even...

Good Companies Can Do Bad Things

This Letter to the Editor was originally published in the Financial Times (subscription needed).

Sir,

We welcome a call for greater corporate responsibility from a UK party leader (Miliband’s business crusade draws fire, September 28) but worry...

Trade Unions Building Bridges to Protect Migrant Workers

Bangladesh is a major country of origin of migrant workers. With workers specifically skilled in the garment industry, many Bangladeshi women migrate for work in textile and garment manufacturing in Mauritius or Jordan. Whereas migrant workers in...

One Day in South Africa, Two Events, and a Major Milestone for Financial Institutions

Johannesburg, July 19, 2011. I wish I could have been in two places at once.

On that day, I was part of a workshop, convened by the law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, the University of Witwatersrand, and the Institute for Human Rights and Business, on...

What Are Rights Without Enforcement?

For most of us, the idea of being deliberately misled over the content of our contracts, having our wages spuriously docked, or even having our wages withheld without reason, is something that we don’t expect to happen. Yet such workplace...

Cash, Crisis, Conscience: How can the financial sector ensure it respects human rights?

When I speak with bankers, they all say they want financial institutions to be recognized as respected members of society. Is it enough for the sector to be able to better address risks management, ESG sustainability, business ethics, and...

How can media companies ensure they live up to their responsibility to respect human rights?

Public outrage in Britain against intrusive journalism has reached boiling point. Disclosures concerning actions taken by the tabloid News of the World alongside new allegations that two newspapers from the same company, the Sun and the Sunday...

Cleaning Up Recruitment and Return Practices to Protect Migrant Workers

This op-Ed was originally published on TheDailyStar.net.

As tens of thousands of Bangladeshi workers fled the conflict in Libya, their plight exposed the vulnerability of migrant labour. It also laid bare the gaps in protecting the human rights of...