Corporate Justice Coalition

CJC’s reponse to Defra consultation on ‘implementing due diligence on forest-risk commodities’ – Schedule 17 of the Environment Act

Briefing

Despite the efforts made by civil society groups, an amendment tabled in the Commons in 2020, a series of interventions by Peers during report stage, and several amendments being put forwards in the House of Lords, Schedule 17 leaves very significant and concerning gaps in human rights protections due to: The lack of reference in...

March 12th, 2022

Business and human rights deforestation Environment Act

The urgent need for a new UK law on business and human rights- a ‘Business, Human Rights and Environment Act’

Briefing

The European Commission is tabling a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive which obliges EU Member States to introduce ‘mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence’ laws. The Commission’s move builds on advances already made in Europe through an emerging new generation of corporate accountability laws. In many instances, these laws will apply to UK companies...

February 22nd, 2022

New UK law won’t halt forest destruction or protect human rights

Partner resource

Written by Clare Oxborrow at Friends of the Earth Commodity supply chains are trashing forests and trampling human rights. Clare Oxborrow explains why the government’s new Environment Act will fail to protect communities and why it must take effective action to regulate UK companies. Read full blog below.

February 9th, 2022

JCB Off Track

Partner resource

A new report from Amnesty International UK detailing JCB’s failure to conduct proper human rights due diligence on the end use of its products, representing a failure to respect human rights. For many years JCB’s heavy machinery has been used in situations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) where war crimes and human rights violations have been...

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

Update

Other

36 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...

October 25th, 2021 October 25th, 2021 | by Mark

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

Other

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

A ‘Business, Human Rights and Environment Act’ – Principal Elements

Partner resource

A coalition of civil society organisations is calling for the introduction a new ‘Business, Human Rights and Environment Act’: a UK ‘mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence’ law, based on the duties to prevent tax evasion and bribery found in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and the Bribery Act 2010 – as called for...

October 19th, 2021 | by ABColombia and Partners

Open Letter to World Leaders

Other

Over 180 indigenous peoples’ organisations, civil society groups, including human rights, environmental and conservation organisations and human rights, land and environmental defenders, as well as academics and experts from 58 countries worldwide have issued an Open Letter to World Leaders, calling on them to ensure human rights are at the centre of all environmental policy....

October 18th, 2021 | by Andrew Lees Trust and Partners

Parliamentary Briefing: UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations, October 2021

Partner resource

Joint-NGO briefing from the UK Working Group on the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations. Between 25-29th October 2021, governments will meet in Geneva to discuss the latest draft of the UN Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights. This is a proposed treaty that seeks to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities...

October 12th, 2021 | by Trades Union Congress and Partners