Here are some links that I have collected, some are friend's sites and some are just great sites that I've found on the internet. Check them out if you have time.
Denver-based gold miner Newmont Mining Corp. said this week it will compensate the Ghanaian government for a spill at the company's Ahafo mine in Ghana. The spill occurred Oct. 8, 2009. A panel appointed by the Ghanaian government recommended Newmont pay about $4.9 millionOn Jan. 18, Newmont...said the company has confirmed its intention to satisfy applicable compensation obligations resulting from the overflowSenior vice president for African operations, Jeff Huspeni, saidThe company accepts responsibility for any failure to meet its standards, and we reiterate our regret and apologies for the overflow.
Organic chocolate maker Green & Black's [part of Cadbury] today pledged to switch its entire worldwide food and beverage range to Fairtrade by the end of next year, in a groundbreaking move that will make it the world's leading manufacturer of organic Fairtrade chocolateThe move represents another major coup for Fairtrade, which last year certified Cadbury's Dairy Milk, and means chocolate is now a mainstream Fairtrade product alongside bananas, tea and coffee. [also refers to Co-Operative Group, Kraft, Nestle's KitKat Bar]
Anglo American...today unveiled a new project to create more jobs, support entrepreneurship and boost local economies in South Africa, a move welcomed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The multinational corporation is answering the Business Call to Action (BCtA), a global initiative challenging companies to apply their business expertise, technology and innovative spirit to tackling poverty and contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline...Long-term economic growth is vital to the fight against global poverty and business investment is vital to building economic growth, said Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator.
Chiquita Brands...tiene que afrontar un demanda que la acusa de haber ayudado a rebeldes marxistas que asesinaron a cinco misioneros americanos hace 10 anos. El juez federal de Distrito Kenneth Marra...dejo en vigor cinco de las reclamaciones de la demanda contra Chiquita aunque descarto 19 de ellas. El fallo del lunes permite a las familias de los misioneros mantener reclamaciones de que la compania ayudo en el asesinato y suministro apoyo material a los terroristas...La compania...tuvo que pagar una multa de $25 millones tras declararse culpable en marzo del 2007 de...pagar a las milicias paramilitares de Colombia $1.7 millones entre 1997 y 2004...
En impactantes imagenes se puede apreciar como la minera...china, Chinalco pretende consumar la presentacion del EIA (Estudio de Impacto Ambiental) en la localidad de Morococha...para asi empezar a desarrollar el megaproyecto Toromocho, a pesar de la oposicion de sus principales autoridades...Se les habia solicitado el aplazamiento de la misma, ya que las autoridades no estaban debidamente informadas por Chinalco de asuntos clave como el balance hidrico y el tema de procesos que comprometeria seriamente la salud y el bienestar de los lugarenos. Pese a todo, Chinalco, con la complicidad y resguardo de las fuerzas policiales, realizan...[la] "consulta popular"...No se permitio la participacion de las personas que seran directamente afectadas.
A conflict over gold mining in El Salvador reveals that Cafta [Central American Free Trade Agreement] and similar deals may enable private firms to circumvent environmental laws.Vancouver-based Pacific Rim company says it has discovered gold deposits in El Salvador and wants to extract them[El Salvador] did not accept Pacific Rim's environmental impact statementPacific Rim filed a claim under a provision in Caftato take El Salvador to an arbitral panel at the World Bank and sue the government for damages. Pacific Rim claims that El Salvador is obliged to let the firm start extracting gold...Canada is not a party to Cafta. So, Pacific Rim filed its lawsuit via its US subsidiaryThe lawsuit has accentuated conflicts over mining in El Salvador. Since it was filed, three anti-mining activists have been killed...Analysts predict that a loss for the government could encourage othersimilar claims.
The Revenue Watch Resource Center is an interactive repository of expert knowledge, offering materials in multiple languages on the management of natural resource wealth. This new site represents a cross-section of up-to date expertise,analysis and good practice for transparency advocates, civil society members, government officials, parliamentarians, students and journalists.
This Special Supplement on business and human rights has been prepared by the Human Rights Working Group to update Global Compact participants and stakeholders on recent developments on business and human rights. [refers to initiatives by, involving: CEO Water Mandate, Business for Social Responsibility, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, Calvert, Institute for Human Rights & Business, others]
The Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a legal request for information on Google Inc.'s reported plans to team with the National Security Agency in analyzing a recent cyber-attack originating in China... [The] reported partnership between Google and the NSA has raised concerns among privacy advocates wary of government intrusion in private communications networks... A Google spokesman declined to comment, other than to refer to the company's original statement on the attack... "There is particular urgency for the public to obtain information about the relationship between the NSA and Google," EPIC wrote in its FOIA request. "As of 2009, Gmail had roughly 146 million monthly users..." ...According to the Washington Post report, Google's effort with the NSA would not enable the NSA to view Google users' search data or email accounts.
Article contrasts compensation paid to families of September 11 victims with benefits paid to families of U.S. military personnel killed on active duty.
Les victimes du deversement de dechets toxiques par Trafigura attendent avec anxiete de savoir si elles toucheront un jour les 45 millions de dollars d'indemnite qui leur sont dus.... Le dernier episode en date de la bataille juridique qui se joue actuellement est la decision de la Cour supreme ivoirienne de suspendre temporairement le transfert de cet argent a un groupe pretendant frauduleusement representer les victimes. La decision prise fin janvier en appel d'autoriser le groupe portant le nom de Coordination nationale des victimes de dechets toxiques de Cote d'Ivoire (CNVDT-CI) a recevoir le montant des indemnites avait souleve un tolle international... La Cour supreme fera savoir le 8 fevrier si la suspension du transfert de l'argent doit se poursuivre.
All of us at the Institute for Human Rights and Business mourn the loss of Nick Howen who passed away on 26 January 2010. Nick was one of the early thinkers and advocates from the human rights community to address the links between private sector activity and the protection of fundamental rights. From his role as lead researcher and writer for the International Council on Human Rights Policy report "Beyond Voluntarism" to his leadership of the International Commission of Jurists' work on corporate complicity in human rights abuses, Nick's contribution to the field of business and human rights is enormous. We and countless others have benefited greatly from Nick Howen's intellectual rigor, compassion, sense of justice and commitment to protection for the most vulnerable.
Survival supportersdemonstrate[on] (3 February) outside Tiffany stores in five countries to protest at the company funding water boreholes for game animals on Bushman land where the people are forbidden access to their own boreholeIn 2006, Botswana's High Court ruled that the government's eviction of the Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve four years earlier was illegal and that the Bushmen had the right to live in their reserve[T]he government has still tried to stop them returning to their ancestral land. It says they cannot usea borehole which it deliberately cut off Survival supporters will demonstrate outside Tiffany stores in London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and San Francisco, to start a campaign calling on the company to withdraw from cooperating with the government.
The Church of England said today that it has sold its 2.5m stake in Vedanta Resources over concerns about its human rights record. The church has been under mounting pressure over the past six months to disinvest in thecompany after it has continually refused to back down on its plans to construct an open-cast mine on Niyamgiri mountain in Orissa, India. Activists believe it will destroy the area's ecosystem and threaten the future of the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribe... "We are not satisfied that Vedanta has shown, or is likely in future to show, the level of respect for human rights and local communities that we expect," said the church in a statementVedanta has yet to comment on the church's decision. [also refers to disinvestment by Martin Currie Investment Management, BP]
Workers involved in building and operating New York University's Middle East campus in Abu Dhabi must have protectionsthe university announced Wednesday in a move that human rights advocates hope reverberates around the regionAmong the provisions announced Wednesday are requirements that employers cover or reimburse employees for any fees involved in the recruitment process and not take money out of workers' pay; that workers are allowed to hold on to personal documents like passports; that overtime is voluntary and must be paid, and that workers are entitled to vacation and paid holidays.
Official statistics related to the deaths of mineworkers in South Africa have not been released, but sources indicate that the death toll has breached the 140 mark, an average of 11 deaths a month in 2009...But the tide appears to be turning for the mining sector's tarnished safety image, which is described as one of the world's most unsafe working cultures. Under the leadership of Minister Susan Shabangu, the Department of Mineral Resources...aims to rectify this image and is determined that 2010 will be the year that government tightens regulation to enhance its vision of a fatality-free industry and to wash away the image of an industry benefiting from blood money...Tightening up regulations also includes amendments to the Mine Health and Safety Act, which holds individuals and companies liable for the injury or death of workers.
The Institute for Human Rights and Business is hosting a discussion by Irene Khan, until recently secretary-general of Amnesty International, on Monday February 22 2010 from 6.30pm 8.30pm at the Doughty Street Chambers in LondonKhan, who is a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, will speak about the key themes of her book, including the role of business, its responsibility, and its efforts and initiatives in this area. She will also talk about the challenges ahead...The event is by invitation only.
Chiquita Brands International Incmust face a lawsuit accusing it of helping Marxist rebels in Colombia who murdered five American missionaries a decade ago. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marralet stand five of the lawsuit's claims against Chiquita while dismissing 19. Yesterday's ruling allows the missionaries' families to pursue claims that the company aided and abetted in the murder and provided material support and resources to terroristsPlaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that Chiquita's provision of money and weapons to FARC aided and abetted the commission of the kidnappings and murders at issue, Marra said in the rulingEd Loyd, a Chiquita spokesman, couldn't immediately be reached for comment yesterday.
Ghana needs to do more to ensure that revenue from oil production...successfully reduces poverty and avoids a resource curse, according to civil society leaders worried that safeguards are either inadequate or absent...The government on 20 January released a draft oil and gas regulation bill for consultation...[b]ut staff at the non-profit Integrated Social Development Centre...say while the draft bill has its strengths, it does not spell out poverty-reduction measures...The legal and regulatory framework is absent, the policy is yet to be finalized, so contracts are hanging, nobody is monitoring and it's looking like a perfect setting before an oil curse strikes, ISODEC campaign coordinator Steve Manteaw [said]...For some [local communities in oil exploration areas], oil exploration is already posing a problem. Awulae Adjahe Anor III, traditional chief of Nzema Western region, told IRIN: Our fishermen can no longer fish where they used to because of the oil rigs and that is why we need a policy document that spells out clearly how we will benefit. We are tired of the rhetoric.
The World Bank may seek to co- invest with China in African manufacturing projects, helping poor nations to add value to exports and create jobs, President Robert Zoellick said...In Ethiopia, two Chinese companies are developing an industrial zone, Zoellick said. The World Bank and other donors could help construct roads and simplify custom procedures to support such a project, he said, exemplifying how the Washington-based lender may work together with China...The World Bank has been meeting with Chinese officials to help align their environmental, social and labor practices with international standards, both at home and in operations abroad...
Due diligence can and should now be used to assess and reduce a business risk that was only explicitly recognizedas a risk quite recently--corporate involvement in human rights abuse... Under this framework [of UN Special Representative John Ruggie], the business responsibility to respect human rights requires companies to conduct human rights due diligence... Conducting due diligence provides corporate boards with strong protection against mismanagement claims by shareholders, usually in the form of derivative lawsuits. [article addresses concerns that due diligence might increase risks from Alien Tort Statute claims, negligence claims, misrepresentation claims, confidentiality obligations; argument that conducting due diligence should result in immunity. Refers to apartheid reparations lawsuits, Chevron lawsuit re Nigeria, Unocal lawsuit re Burma, ExxonMobil lawsuit re Aceh, Nike v Kasky, UK OECD Guidelines cases involving Afrimex, Vedanta]
Coalfield fires have been burning under the Jharia region of Jharkhand for at least a hundred years...India's largest coal source has been making corporations like Tata Steel very rich. But it's the villagers living around the mines that must deal with the underground infernos that leak noxious gas into the air and create sinkholes that sometimes consume entire houses.
Activists and researchers in the United States are raising the alarm on what they call the "land grab" in Africa. Outside governments and foreign corporations have been turning increasingly to African countries to purchase large areas of land, to the dismay of activists, who say economic mistakes of the past should not be repeated...On the other side of the debate, investors, foreign buyers and local leaders say such long-term land leases will create thousands of jobs and bring in much needed revenue...Activists and investors do agree that after the world housing market collapsed, African land became a widely-sought cheap commodity. What they clearly disagree on is whether this trend is good or bad for local populations. [refers to Addax International, Morgan Stanley, Sinopec, China National Overseas Oil Corporations, PT Daewoo Logistics Indonesia, Cheil Jedang Samsung, Black Earth Farming, Alpcot-Agro, Black Rock, Al Kudra ]
Por el asesinatos de dos lideres sindicales de la multinacional Drummond en el Cesar, fue cobijado con medida de aseguramiento...Jose Aristides Peinado Martinez, alias "El Guache". Segun el ente acusador, el indiciado es responsable del crimen perpetrado contra el presidente y vicepresidente [Valmore Locarno Rodriguez y Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya] de esa organizacion de trabajadores [Sintramienergetica], ocurrido hace nueve anos...
Three Chinese engineers have been arrested and charged in the deaths of 40 factory workers killed when a chimney collapsed at the power plant they were building in central India The power plant, owned by Bharat Aluminum, or BALCO [part of Vedanta Resources], was being built by a Chinese construction company with the help of local contractors The Chinese engineers were arrested MondayIf convicted, they can be jailed for up to 10 years. The engineers were employed by the Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO) Police arrested four Indian officials soon after the accident in September.
On 7 April 2010, the Responsible Sourcing Network (a new project of As You Sow) and the Institute for Human Rights and Business, in partnership with Anti-Slavery International and Boston Common Asset Management, will convene a meeting in Brussels to address forced child labour in Uzbekistan's cotton sector. The meeting will bring together brands, retailers, civil society organizations, investors, trade unions, industry associations and others...
Alert warns that entering "Automation Labs" into Facebook's "Block List" option will display a list of twenty people who have access to your Facebook account.
Crime legend: After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a car thief was found crushed to death under a collapsed freeway overpass in the vehicle he'd stolen.
