Recent Member interventions on human rights and business

Members of the ESCR-Net Corporate Accountability Working Group (CAWG), including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights, Conectas, DeJusticia y Justiça Global, have recently published several important interventions in an effort to strengthen corporate accountability for human rights at the international level

Amnesty International launched on March 10^th Injustice Incorporated: Corporate Abuses and the Human Right to Remedy. The book was launched jointly with publications by The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) and EarthRights International. The book examines what happens when poor communities confront powerful multinational corporations in an effort to secure justice and focuses on four emblematic cases of corporate abuse (Bhopal, Omai, Ok Tedi and toxic waste dumping in Côte d’Ivoire) to expose how political and financial power allows companies to evade accountability and deny the right of remedy. More info on the book here.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) issued on March 12^th a briefing paper Business and Human Rights: Enhancing Standard and Ensuring Redress in which it calls on the international community to take urgent steps at national, regional and international levels to enhance standards and to ensure effective redress mechanisms are available for corporate-related human rights violations. The paper is based on five case studies in Cambodia, Brazil, Lybia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. To know more about the briefing click here.

The Latin American organizations Conectas Human Rights (Brazil), Dejusticia (Colombia) and Justiça Global (Brazil) created the Observatory of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights to monitor the group's work. Through analyses of the UN Working Group’s reports and mandate, as well as participation in dialogue sessions, the Observatory aims to provide materials for reflection on human rights abuses by companies as well as about the UN’s work in this field. The Observatory seeks to contribute to improving the work of the UN Working Group and strengthening civil society actions for greater protection of human rights of victims of abuses by companies. Conectas, Dejusticia and Justiça Global believe that the UN Working Group should step up the debate on the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights, and give more voice to victims.