Corporate Justice Coalition – Protecting Rights. Ending Corporate Abuse

“Rule for corporations, rights for people!” – activists take call for action to UN in Geneva

Analysis

Comment

By Louise Eldridge At the end of October, I represented CAFOD at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland, where countries around the world were meeting to try to agree on a new UN Treaty to create binding rules to stop companies around the world from exploiting people and damaging the environment. CAFOD has for...

November 9th, 2022 | by Mark

UK businesses, investors call for new human rights and environmental due diligence law

Update

Other

46 leading businesses and investors have called on the UK Government to introduce a new legal requirement for companies and investors to carry out human rights and environmental due diligence. A group including Microsoft, Tesco, Primark and Nestlé said: “Legislation can contribute to a competitive level playing field, increase legal certainty about the standards expected...

September 9th, 2022 September 9th, 2022 | by Mark

Press Release: YouGov poll shows 4 in 5 of the British public want law to prevent business human rights and environmental harm – businesses and investors agree

Press releases

(Polling results attached in full below) • According to a new YouGov poll, 87% of the British public support new laws to prevent businesses from exploiting people in their supply chains; 83% of the British public support new laws that would force companies to ensure their supply chains do no avoidable damage to the environment....

September 2nd, 2022 September 2nd, 2022 | by Mark

Investor letter for UK Human Rights Due Diligence

Update

39 investors sign a letter calling on the UK government to bring forward a ‘Business, Human Rights and Environment Act’ to mandate all companies to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence. The investors include Jupiter, Ethos, BMO and Legal & General Asset Management. In total, the investors represent £4.5 trillion in assets under management...

September 2nd, 2022 September 2nd, 2022 | by Mark

UK Law Commission: Options Paper includes criminal offence of failure to prevent human rights abuses

Analysis

Written by Rachel Chambers The failure to hold to account criminally UK companies (and companies which operate in the UK and/or have UK listings) which are complicit in human rights abuses abroad stands in stark contrast to more promising developments in countries such as France, with the Lafarge case, and Sweden with the Lundin case. Cases such as...

August 23rd, 2022 | by Mark

UK efforts to reduce global deforestation undermined by ignoring indigenous peoples’ rights

Analysis

Comment

by Gabriela Quijano at Forest Peoples Programme On 10 November 2021, the UK government passed into law the UK Environment Act. While this law is primarily concerned with environmental protection within the UK, Schedule 17 attempts to tackle illegal deforestation overseas. Under this Schedule, certain businesses will be required to prove that their products are...

April 20th, 2022 | by Mark

Replacing the corporate ‘architecture of impunity’ with an ‘architecture of accountability’ – what’s the UN Binding Treaty got to do with it?

Comment

Tuesday 15th March 2022. On the International Day of Action to advance the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations – the Corporate Justice Coalition is standing with civil society groups worldwide to mark the occasion and join calls for an end to corporate impunity. The idea that we need to hold increasingly powerful corporations and...

March 15th, 2022 | by Ligia Baracat

Legal opinion says Boohoo could have been liable for human rights breaches under a new UK law

Analysis

A new legal review by Tim Otty QC and Naina Patel of Blackstone Chambers looks into Boohoo’s Leicester supply chain and finds the fast fashion brand could have been held liable under a UK mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence law called for by rights groups. In the review, it is argued that, “Boohoo...

October 22nd, 2021 October 22nd, 2021 | by Mark

Protecting collective land rights through corporate due diligence: key principles

Comment

Lan Mei, Lawyer at the Forest Peoples Programme, explains a new guide to assist policymakers and businesses in understanding key elements of effective due diligence on collective land rights, Stepping up: protecting collective land rights through corporate due diligence. The growing momentum towards mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) is welcome news for...

July 13th, 2021 | by Lan Mei