Business and Human Rights (global, regional, thematic)

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: Overview: "The process of globalization and other global developments over the past decades have seen non-state actors such as transnational corporations and other business play an increasingly important role both internationally, but also at the national and local levels. The growing reach and impact of business enterprises have given rise to a debate about the roles and responsibilities of such actors with regard to human rights. Industrial Park Factory Workers © UN PhotoInternational human rights standards have traditionally been the responsibility of governments, aimed at regulating relations between the State and individuals and groups. But with the increased role of corporate actors, nationally and internationally, the issue of business? impact on the enjoyment of human rights has been placed on the agenda of the United Nations. Over the past decade, the United Nations human rights machinery has been considering the scope of business? human rights responsibilities and exploring ways for corporate actors to be accountable for the impact of their activities on human rights. As a result of this process, there is now greater clarity about the respective roles and responsibilities of governments and business with regard to protection and respect for human rights. Most prominently, the emerging understanding and consensus have come as a result of the UN ?Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework on human rights and business, which was elaborated by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, building on major research and extensive consultations with all relevant stakeholders, including States, civil society and the business community. On 16 June 2011, the UN Human Rights Council endorsed Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for implementing the UN ?Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework, providing ? for the first time ? a global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity."
Source/publisher: United Nations - Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-14
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: An Interpretive Guide (OHCHR, Advance Unedited Version, November 2011)...UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights 2011...Guide on How to Develop a Human Rights Policy 2011...A Human Rights Management Framework Poster 2010...Human Rights Translated - A Business reference guide, A joint publication of Global Compact Office and Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 2008...OHCHR and Global Compact Human Rights and Business Learning Tool...A Guide for Integrating Human Rights into Business Management, 2nd Edition ...Guide for Integrating Human Rights into Business Management - A joint publication of BLIHR, Global Compact Office and Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights May 2006 ...Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice II...Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice I
Source/publisher: United Nations
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-15
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Frequently-updated links to news items, guidelines, reports, articles, United Nations and ILO documents, company policies, lawsuits against companies, other websites. Plus 56 hits for Burma OR Myanmar (September 2001). Very rich and useful source. Recommended. Sectors: Agriculture Aircraft/Airline Apparel industry: General Clothing & textile Footwear Arms/Weapons Asbestos Auditing, consulting & accounting Auto rental Automobile & other motor vehicles Baby food & baby milk Battery Bicycle Biotechnology Carpet & rug Ceramics Chemical Chocolate Cleaning products Clothing & textile Coffee Construction & building equipment/materials Cookware Cosmetics Diamond Diversified/Conglomerates Dye Electrical appliance Energy & electricity Express delivery Fabric & yarn Fertiliser Finance & banking Fire extinguisher Fireworks Fishing Food & beverage Footwear Furniture Garden supply Glass Health care Hotel Industrial gases Insurance Jewelry Law firms Logging & lumber Machine tools Manufacturing Media Medical equipment Metals & steel Military/defence Mining Oil, gas & coal Packaging Paint Paper Pesticide Pharmaceutical Photographic Plastics Printing Publishing Railroad Real estate Refrigerator & refrigerant Restaurants Retail Rubber Shipping, ship-building & ship-scrapping Slaughterhouses Sporting goods Stone quarries Sugar Supermarkets Tanneries Tea Technology, telecommunications & electronics Tobacco Tourism Toy Trucking Waste disposal Water. See also the section on the UNOCAL case in "Lawsuits against companies: Selected major cases". Good section on tourism.
Creator/author: Chris Avery
Source/publisher: Business and Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: 452 items...Some Burma-specific links....narrow down from Advanced Search
Source/publisher: Business and Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2008-04-14
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: More than 200 links to agreements between labour unions and companies, international labour standards, Amnesty International?s Human Rights Principles for Companies, various campaigns, model codes, codes of conduct from companies, international trade secretariats and the ICFTU. ILO documents etc.
Source/publisher: University of Minnesota human rights library
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is a global centre of excellence and expertise on the relationship between business and internationally proclaimed human rights standards. We provide a trusted, impartial space for dialogue and independent analysis to deepen understanding of human rights challenges and issues and the appropriate role of business. We seek to address problems where the law may be unclear, where accountability and responsibility may not be well-defined, and where legitimate dispute settlement mechanisms may be non-existent or poorly-administered. The Institute works to raise corporate standards and strengthen public policy to ensure that the activities of companies do not contribute to human rights abuses, and in fact lead to positive outcomes..." Several Burma/Myanmar reports
Source/publisher: Institute for Human Rights and Business
Date of entry/update: 2014-05-25
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Shift is an independent, non-profit center for business and human rights practice. We help governments, businesses and their stakeholders put the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights into practice. We share our learning by developing public guidance materials that help build the field globally. We were established in July 2011, following the unanimous endorsement of the Guiding Principles by the UN Human Rights Council, which marked the successful conclusion of the mandate of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie. Our team was centrally involved in shaping and writing the UN Guiding Principles, and Prof. Ruggie is Chair of our Board of Trustees..." .
Source/publisher: Shift
Date of entry/update: 2013-05-06
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Topic: BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Topic: BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Description: "Responding to reports that South Korean steel giant POSCO will end the steel venture its Myanmar subsidiary shares with military-owned conglomerate MEHL, Amnesty International’s Business and Human Rights Researcher Montse Ferrer said: “POSCO’s decision to cut this tie is the latest blow to Myanmar’s military, which continues to impose its rule through murder and heinous human rights violations. Since staging a coup in February, the military has reportedly killed around 700 people, including dozens of children. “Given the scale of POSCO’s operations in Myanmar, this announcement is a major step forward. It increases the military authorities’ isolation, and adds to the growing pressure on other companies to end their business links with MEHL. “POSCO has yet to announce the full details of its plans to disengage from its steel venture and whether it will continue to pay lease payments to MEHL. The company also has yet to address its broader footprint in Myanmar in other sectors. However, this is still a warning sign to all companies and investors who have business partnerships with MEHL. All of these businesses should do the right thing and responsibly cut these links immediately. “As pressure builds on businesses, and as the military continues to commit appalling human rights violations, the UN Security Council must stop lagging so far behind. It must impose, without further delay, a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar, as well as targeted financial sanctions on senior military officials responsible for atrocity crimes. The Security Council must also urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.”.....Background ...On 16 April 2021, POSCO announced that its Myanmar subsidiary, POSCO C&C, would end its relationship with military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). This decision follows months of international pressure from Amnesty International and other organizations, who have engaged POSCO, its investors and stakeholders, calling on the company to cut ties with the Myanmar military. On 24 March 2021, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar by consensus, which highlighted that no company active in Myanmar or with business links to Myanmar should do business with the military (also known as the Tatmadaw) or one of their business entities, until and unless those businesses are restructured and transformed. In September 2020, Amnesty International’s Military Ltd. report demonstrated that POSCO, as MEHL’s business partner, was linked to the financing of Myanmar’s military units implicated in crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations. The Myanmar military staged a coup on 1 February 2021 and has been increasingly using lethal force, including battlefield weapons, against overwhelmingly peaceful protesters and onlookers, reportedly killing over 700 people, including dozens of children. It has also arbitrarily detained over 3,000 individuals, including government officials, human rights defenders, activists, journalists, artists, medical workers and others..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2021-04-16
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 211.37 KB
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Description: ''The workshop aimed to facilitate discussion on strategic litigation options for communities adversely affected by existing and proposed investment projects. The ICJ and civil society organizations have extensively documented how human rights abuses continue to occur in the context of business activities in Myanmar. Communities generally have limited understanding of their rights, while government actors and businesses regularly flout their legal obligations. The ICJ’s international legal adviser Sean Bain first set out applicable international standards, with a focus on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. He identified Myanmar’s nascent legal framework for environmental protection as a key area of law with potential to deter rights abuses. He noted that while in December 2015 the Government of Myanmar issued the Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure, its provisions are rarely followed or enforced in practice...''
1970-01-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-02-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: ''The ICJ called on Myanmar’s government to act as swiftly as possible to address the root causes of violence, discrimination and under-development in Rakhine, as well as for enhanced engagement by the international community in efforts to effectively address the situation, and to take measures to ensure that security operations are conducted in accordance with international human rights standards. The military operations follow attacks by ARSA on August 25 on police posts and a military base in which at least 12 police, military and government officials were killed, along with a large number of attackers (according to government figures). In the wake of the attacks on 25 August, the military launched what it has termed as a “clearance operation,” and the government announced that parts of northern Rakhine State have been designated as a “military operations area.”''
Source/publisher: International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
2017-09-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-02-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The new consortium includes ITD, Japanese-Thai joint venture Rojana Industrial Park Public Company and LNG Plus International Company, also from Thailand, according to a statement by Damien Dujacquier, a partner at consultant Roland Berger. Late last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed he would support the economic zone in Tanintharyi Region which aims to link the Andaman Sea to Bangkok and the Gulf of Thailand. However, there was no mention of Japan?s participation in the August 5 statement. ?The agreement marks a significant milestone in Myanmar?s economic development,” said Mr Dujacquier. ?The zone is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the long term and contribute up to 5 percent of Myanmar?s GDP [gross domestic product] by 2045.” The ambitious project has been in the works for many years. The governments of Myanmar and Thailand first signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the area in 2008, then in 2010 Myanmar granted a 60-year concession to ITD to develop a deep sea port, industrial estate, and road and rail link to Thailand..."
Creator/author: Clare Hammond
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (English)
2015-08-07
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...The field covered under the title ? business and human rights” is vast and complex. It encompasses issues relating to the respective role of States and business enterprises, which as such cover a wide diversity of matters. It may address issues relating to incorporation and functioning of corporate bodies in domestic jurisdictions, the financing of economic activities, rules governing transnational investment, State-owned national bodies that promote and insure export and imports, the securities field, and the relationship between the State and private business es, particularly those operating abroad. It touches upon the law of civil remedies and criminal law, and in many countries it involves constitutional law. While there are many actors and situations that may exert influence on business behaviour, this report focuses on the identification of gaps in international law and its implementation, which are arguably part of the permissive environment for businesses? abuse of human rights. Business conduct is constrained not only by publicly enacted laws and regulations, the breach of which may be sanctioned by public authorities, but also by a plethora of written and unwritten rules that govern economic interactions in the market, including consumer preferences and State preferences as a consumer of businesses? goods and services. Self-regulation in the form of enterprise codes of conduct responds to those market incentives and can be fairly effective when certain conditions are in place. However, the ICJ and many other actors have been critical of the value of these initiatives as an effective tool for corporate accountability and have warned against over-reliance on them. As a form of regulation of business behaviour, self-regulation is not the focus of this report. Moreover, multi- stakeholder initiatives and codes of conduct as regulatory options have been mapped out during the work carried out by Professor Ruggie during his mandate as Special Representative. To undertake this work again would be duplicative and unnecessary. For the purposes of this report, it suffices to restate the general consensus that a mix of voluntary and regulatory approaches is possible and necessary when addressing business and human rights. The objective of this report is to identify gaps in international regulation that could justify the need for new international instruments. The report focuses only on those gaps that are: 1) of a normative character, in terms of defining the content and scope of international standards; or 2) relate to the effective implementation of those standards, including access to an effective remedy for victims of abuse. Significantly, most of those issues have already been effectively addressed in various ways by human rights advocates, scholars and jurists. The report aims at recommending options to address those normative and implementation gaps..."
Source/publisher: International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
2014-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2014-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.58 MB
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Description: "Pursuant to the authorities of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and 31 C.F.R. part 537, on July 11, 2012, the Treasury Department?s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Ge n e r a l L i ce nse No. 17 ( ? G L - 17 ? ). GL - 17 authorizes new investment in Burma ( a s de f i n e d in 31 C . F . R. ? 537.311) by U.S. persons (a s d e fin e d in 31 C. F .R. ? 537.321), subject to certain limitations and requirements set forth in that general license. Among those requirements is that any U.S. person engaging in new investment in Burma pursuant to GL - 17 submit reports to the Department of State. T his docum e nt sets fo r th those r e port i ng r e quir e ments. Th e r e a re two s e p a r a te r e port i ng r e quir e ments a ss o c iat e d with new investm e nt i n B u r ma that must be su b m i t t e d to t he D e p a rtme n t of S tate: (1) a re qu i r e ment t h a t a n y U.S. pe r son und e rt a king n e w inv e st m e nt p u r suant to an a g r ee ment, or pursu a nt t o the e x e r c ise o f r i g hts un d e r su c h a n a g r ee ment, that is e nte r e d in t o with M y a nma O il a nd G a s Ente r p r i s e ( MO G E ) not if y the D e p a rtme n t of S tate of such i n v e st m e nt ( ? MO G E I n v e st m e nt Notifi ca t i on ? ); and ( 2 ) a r e quir e ment that a n y U.S. pe r son whose a g g reg a te investm e nt i n B u r ma e x cee ds $500,000 p r ovi d e info r mation as s e t f o rth b e low (? Ann u a l R e porting R e qui r e ment ? ) . T h e s ec ond re p o rting r e quir e ment e ntails t wo v e rsions: a v e rsion f or the U. S . Gov e rnm e nt a nd a v e rsion that will be re le a s e d publ i c l y ..."
Source/publisher: US Government (USG)
2013-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2013-05-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)... Text box extracted from "Access Denied - Land Rights and Ethnic Conflict in Burma" by TNI/BCN, May 2013 at http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs15/TNI-accesdenied-briefing11-red.pdf
Creator/author: Jennifer Franco
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI), Burma Centre Netherlands
2013-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2013-05-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 43.88 KB 160.52 KB
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Description: In June 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights presented to it by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG), Professor John Ruggie. This unprecedented move established the Guiding Principles as the global standard of practice that is now expected of all governments and businesses with regard to business and human rights. While they do not by themselves constitute a legally binding document, the Guiding Principles elaborate on the implications of existing standards and practices for States and businesses and include points covered variously in international and domestic law...This Guide in no way changes or adds to the provisions of the UN Guiding Principles, nor to the expectations that they set for businesses. Its purpose is to provide additional background explanation to the Guiding Principles that could not be included in the UN document itself due to space constraints, but which supports a full understanding of its meaning and intent. The Guide‟s content was the subject of numerous consultations during the six years of Professor Ruggie‟s mandate and was reflected in his many public reports and speeches, but has not previously been gathered together in one place..."
Source/publisher: United Nations
2011-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.13 MB
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