In the News

UN General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right
July 29 2010
During 2010, IHRB has supported the work of Catarina de Albuquerque, who has been focusing on the role of business in water management with specific reference to the right to water. In collaboration with the Independent Expert and her team, we recently convened a range of experts from business, government and civil society to address dilemmas faced by business (in particular the agricultural sector) in balancing responsibilities relating to the right to water and the right to food.

Trafigura found guilty of exporting toxic waste
July 23 2010
A Dutch court has found multinational Trafigura guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste and concealing the nature of the cargo. In 2006, Trafigura transported waste alleged to have been involved in the injury of thousands of people in Ivory Coast. Read also, IHRB Staff reflections on the Trafigura case, published in Sep. 2009.

Global list of companies with human rights policy
July 19 2010
"Having a stated human rights policy is no longer a matter of choice, but a business imperative for an increasing number of companies around the world." IHRB Policy Director Salil Tripathi discusses the move from corporate philanthropy to respect for human rights in The Financial Express of India.

10th OECD Roundtable on Corporate Responsibility
July 02 2010
Every year, the OECD holds a roundtable on corporate responsibility addressing emerging issues and new developments. The 2010 event brought together representatives from governments, business, labour, NGOs, international organisations and academia to focus on the human rights dimensions of updating the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
IHRB Executive Director John Morrison spoke at the Roundtable. Read the remarks.

CSR in emerging economies: Style still trumps substance
June 28th 2010
FIFA, the world soccer governing body, should be held to account for its treatment of street vendors, many of whom have suffered loss of income during the World Cup, IHRB Chair Mary Robinson said this weekend. Robinson said the move by Fifa to set up exclusion zones near the World Cup stadiums was a human rights issue that needed to be addressed.

CSR in emerging economies: Style still trumps substance
June 23rd 2010 | Blog by Hugh Williamson
"A global business summit starting on Thursday in New York will be a showcase for companies from emerging economies looking to highlight their credentials in promoting ethical corporate values. But there are questions about whether there is real substance behind their glossy presentations..."

Bhopal’s many betrayals
June 9th 2010
"The agony of the people of Bhopal began long before Monday, when a court found seven officials associated with the former pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Ltd guilty of causing death by negligence", writes IHRB Policy Director Salil Tripathi. "The betrayal of Bhopalis is older: It began when nobody warned the city’s poor not to live so close to a chemical plant..."

Multiple stakeholder coalitions in crisis?
June 7th 2010
The Financial Times reports this week on the strains facing current multi-stakeholder initiatives aimed at tackling specific business problems through voluntary standard-setting, monitoring and verification. IHRB Executive Director John Morrison is quoted in the article and notes that "multi-stakeholder initiatives can be very useful but are, if you like, 'Generation 2.0'; what is really needed now is 'global governance Generation 3.0'."

Call for oil companies to practice revenue transparency in Burma
May 25th 2010
In May 2010, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Total, Chevron, and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand Exploration & Production (PTTEP) to respond to an appeal for revenue transparency from their operations in Burma. The statement was signed by signed by 168 policy leaders, academics & scholars, Burmese & international NGOs, trade unions, including Chair of IHRB's Board, Mary Robinson.

ICJ Memorial Event in honour of Nicholas Howen
May 13th 2010
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) invites you to honour the contributions of its former Secretary-General, Nicholas Howen, to the human rights movement and the ICJ. IHRB Board Chair Mary Robinson will chair the meeting in her role as President of the ICJ. IHRB Policy Director Salil Tripathi will speak at the event on business and human rights.

'Companies are rarely innocent bystanders': Q&A with Irene Khan
May 10th 2010
IHRB Board Member and former Head of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, argues in her new book 'The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights' that current efforts to reduce global poverty through economic growth fail to consider the human rights of the poor and that binding human rights regulations are needed to convert corporate "bad guys".

How the Global Compact can better address human rights
April 27th 2010
The Institute for Human Rights and Business will soon release a human rights review of the Global Compact. In a contribution to Ethical Corporation, IHRB Board Chair Mary Robinson asks for stakeholder ideas as to how the Compact may become better attuned to human rights concerns.

It's time for action on migrant workers, say industry leaders
April 22nd 2010
Momentum is building behind a multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at extending greater protections to migrant workers, following a roundtable meeting hosted by the Ethical Trading Initiative in March. Around 200 million people throughout the world work away from their country of birth. Many are recruited by unscrupulous recruitment agencies...

Google's push for online liberty
April 22nd 2010
In his latest contribution to The Guardian, IHRB's Director of Policy, Salil Tripathi, argues that although internet giant Google is exploring ways to avoid being complicit in human rights abuses, freedom of expression is too important to be left in the hands of businesses alone.

Q&A with Bennett Freeman
April 9th 2010
IHRB Board Member Bennett Freeman has been a key figure in a number of influential initiatives over the past decade to improve sustainability, transparency and respect for human rights in the natural resources industries. He now heads the Sustainability Research Department at the US responsible-investment firm Calvert. In a wide-ranging interview with Critical Resource he discusses the progress being made by these various initiatives, and the challenges that remain.

Open Letter to Lord Peter Mandelson
March 30th 2010
Chair of IHRB's Advisory Board, Mary Robinson, has written an open letter to Peter Mandelson "to express concern over recent proposals put forward by the Export Credits Guarantee Department and to offer support in facilitating constructive multi-stakeholder dialogue around this important issue..."

Second Regional Forum on the Prevention of Genocide
March 16th 2010
IHRB took part in a panel on the role of non-state actors at the second regional forum on the prevention of genocide in Arusha, Tanzania, on March 4-5, 2010. IHRB Director of Policy, Salil Tripathi, spoke at the forum about the roles and responsibilities of business operating in zones of conflict.

Uzbek cotton multi-stakeholder meeting
March 1st 2010
On April 7th 2010, the Institute for Human Rights and Business and the Responsible Sourcing Network (a new project of As You Sow), 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.

Podcast: Irene Khan shares her views on business and human rights at IHRB Exchange Forum
February 25th 2010
Irene Khan, who recently left Amnesty International after eight-and-a-half years as its secretary general, outlined her vision of demanding dignity and protecting the rights of the poor, in a wide-ranging conversation at the second Exchange Forum hosted by the Institute for Human Rights and Business in London on Feb 22.

Exchange Forum - A Discussion with Irene Khan
February 8th 2010
The Institute for Human Rights and Business is hosting a discussion with Irene Khan, until recently secretary-general of Amnesty International, on Monday February 22 2010 from 6.30pm – 8.30pm. Khan has published an important book - The Unheard Truth in which she makes a strong case for protecting the rights of the poor.

IHRB mourns the loss of Nick Howen
January 28th 2010
All of us at 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.

Roundtable: Protecting Migrant Workers in the Supply Chain
January 25th 2010
The Business and Migration Initiative, a partnership programme of the IHRB and the IBLF, is co-hosting a roundtable 'Protecting Migrant Workers in the Supply Chain' with the Ethical Trading Initiative.

Conference Report published
January 20th 2010
The ‘Protect, Respect, Remedy’ conference was held in Stockholm on 10 and 11 November 2009 as part of the Swedish Presidency of the European Union. The aim of the event was to examine the ways in which the United Nations Framework on business and human rights might best be incorporated into the European Union (EU) and the EU commitment to corporate responsibility.

CSR Geneva Event: Salil Tripathi to discuss recent trends in human rights reporting
January 11th 2010
On Jan. 13th, Salil Tripathi, Policy Director at the Institute for Human Rights and Business, and Dr. Liz Umlas, author of a recent report on corporate human rights reporting, will discuss some recent trends in human rights reporting, highlighting selected examples of innovative reporting on the subject, as well as key areas where further work is still needed.

Business and Human Rights in 2010
December 31st, 2009
An article from the Financial Times speculates that NGOs will be raising their game over human rights issues next year. Meanwhile, the newly formed Institute for Human Rights and Business has laid out what it calls the: "Top 10 Emerging Business and Human Rights Challenges for 2010". It's a very useful list of the key issues...

Top 10 for 2010: Emerging Business and Human Rights Challenges
December 10th 2009
Despite growing awareness among corporate leaders of the social and environmental impacts of their operations, business involvement in human rights abuses remains a key global governance challenge. A lack of transparency and controls, inconsistent criteria for operating in conflict zones and weak standards for human rights due diligence require greater attention and joint action. The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) launched its Top 10 list of emerging business and human rights challenges for 2010.

Setting Boundaries: Clarifying the Scope and Content of the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights
December 10th 2009
As a contribution to the ongoing work of UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie, IHRB has submitted a new report that explores situations and specific circumstances in which companies may have responsibilities in addition to those understood in the corporate responsibility to respect human rights as set out in the "Protect, Respect, Remedy" policy framework for business and human rights.

Inaugural Exchange Forum hosted in London
December 3rd 2009
The Institute for Human Rights and Business hosted a discussion on Nov 30, on corporate accountability in the wake of the settlement of the Trafigura case in Cote d’Ivoire. This is the first of regular Exchange Forums the Institute plans to host in London and elsewhere. The discussions, held under the Chatham House Rule, will allow an invited audience to engage with leading experts on key business and human rights issues in the news.

12th Annual Conference 2009 of the Forum for Business Ethics and Business Culture
November 29th 2009
The 2009 Conference of the Forum for Business Ethics and Business Culture took place in Wittenberg, Germany from 26-26 November. Exploring the issues of corporate citizenship and new governance - the political role of corporative actors in societal rule-setting processes, the conference featured distinguished experts presenting their most recent research on this area of inquiry. John Morrisson, Executive Director of IHRB, delivered an address on Nov. 26th.

Change Big Business From the Inside
November 16th 2009
It's great that public service is popular again, but it's the private sector that sorely needs young people who are looking to make a difference.

Valore Sociale International Conference
October 28th 2009
Business and Human Rights: Corporate Social Responsibility, accountability and control of the Supply Chain was the name of the International Conference which took place Oct. 28th in the Italian Parliament buildings in Rome. Executive Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, John Morrison, delivered the keynote speech on the importance of the 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' framework.

Do businesses really care about human rights?
October 7th 2009
Why are we seeing so little activity by businesses in the field of human rights, especially in regions such as Asia, where human rights risks can severely impacts on the reputation and trust that businesses depend on?. One key problem, in my view, is that there is an inadequate understanding within the private sector of what human rights are and why they are important...

Corporate Conduct
September 18th 2009
The Guardian published the following letter by IHRB Director John Morrison on the Trafigura case: The UN special rapporteur's report on the conduct of Trafigura raises serious issues about corporate conduct and accountability. Affected victims in Ivory Coast have waited long for an effective remedy...

Interview with Salil Tripathi
August 2009
As part of its effort to integrate further debate on ethics and corporate responsibility into the MBA curriculum, the Allwin Initiative at Tuck recently hosted an interview with Salil Tripathi, Policy Director for the Institute for Human Rights and Business and an alumnus of the Tuck School. In discussion with Erin Henry, Salil addresses the question of what is driving companies to take leadership ahead of governments in some areas of human rights.

Mary Robinson awarded Medal of Freedom
August 2009
The Institute for Human Rights and Business warmly congratulates Mary Robinson, Chairman of the Institute's Board, on being awarded the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Barack Obama.

Land, Business and Human Rights
July 2009
The Institute for Human Rights and Business convened a discussion around land, business, and human rights in Manesar, India, on June 24-25. Over 25 international representatives participated in the two-day forum. Participants included representatives of leading businesses with responsibilities in India and beyond, academic and legal experts as well as members of the civil society expressing a wide range of views on issues such as indigenous people's rights, ecological concerns, human rights, and property rights. Background papers are now available for download.

Submission of Evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights
April 2009
From March – May 2009, the UK Joint Committee on Human Rights issued a Call for Evidence on Business and Human Rights. The Institute for Human Rights and Business submitted its views to the UK Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry on Business and Human Rights on April 30th 2009.

Leadership Team Appointed
March 2009
The Institute has appointed its leadership team to take forward the organization’s work. The Institute’s Executive Board, chaired by Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and founder and President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, recently announced the decisions to key stakeholders.

Business, Human Rights and the Right to Water
Draft Report | January 2009
This report is work-in-progress, and represents the Institute's informed view of the challenges the issue of water and human rights poses for governments, companies, and the civil society. It was released at the Human Rights Seminar in Paris, in December, 2008 and draws from an initial consultation held in Washington D.C. in September, 2008, which included participants drawn from civil society groups representing human rights, water activism, and environmental groups, socially-responsible investors, companies, and national and international human rights organisations.