The Queen's Speech 2015 – some highlights for civil society campaigners
CORE’s Advocacy Adviser Ruth Chambers takes a look at the Queen’s Speech and pulls out some highlights for civil society campaigners In today’s Queen’s Speech (27 May 2015) the government has set out its legislative stall for the coming Parliamentary session, as it attempts to make its manifesto pledges a reality. As is often the case...
Updating the UK Business and Human Rights Action Plan: CORE’s Recommendations
On 4th September 2013 the UK became the first country to release a Business and Human Rights Action Plan, building on its commitment to implement the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs). CORE gave the Plan a cautious welcome and urged the government to ensure that it leads to concrete steps to address corporate human rights abuse. The...
Members of the European Parliament make history by voting in favour law on conflict minerals
Following a campaign spearheaded by Global Witness and Amnesty International, members of the European Parliament have made history by voting in favour of a strong and binding law to tackle the deadly trade in conflict minerals. Despite concerted efforts by big business to weaken the legislation, MEPs have approved a groundbreaking proposal to require that...
CORE has joined with over 150 NGOs from across Europe to call on members of the European Parliament to vote for effective regulation of the trade in conflict minerals
Every year, millions of Euro worth of minerals flow into the EU from some of the poorest places on earth. This trade in resources – such as gold, diamonds, tantalum, tin, copper and coal – continues to perpetuate a cycle of conflict and human rights abuses in many fragile areas of the world. These resources...
Mandatory human rights due diligence: developments in Europe
Campaigners in France and Switzerland are aiming to improve corporate accountability by changing laws to require companies to conduct mandatory human rights due diligence throughout their operations. Below we report on a couple of prominent cases. French bill on parent company liability French campaigners were celebrating on 31 March 2015 when the French National Assembly...
Priority actions for the new government on corporate accountability
In a poll conducted a few months prior to the UK’s 7 May general election, 79% of people agreed that ‘if big businesses do not want to comply with regulation they can usually get around it’. This should come as no surprise given the repeated corporate scandals of the last five years. Yet despite the seeming cynicism,...
‘Critical mass’ of vigilance needed to eradicate slavery from supply chains
Members of CORE including Amnesty International and UNICEF UK, along with our allies Homeworkers Worldwide and Quaker Peace & Social Witness have called for a ‘critical mass’ of vigilance to help eradicate slavery from company supply chains. The UK’s Modern Slavery Act, passed on 26th March 2015 includes a clause requiring companies operating in the...
SNP Manifesto 2015: key points on corporate accountability
The full pdf document is available here. Key points: Pay We will vote to increase the minimum wage to £8.70 by 2020. We will also support measures to extend the Living Wage across the UK. The Scottish Government already pays the Living Wage to all of its own employees and to those covered by its...
What the main parties are saying on corporate accountability issues
Summaries of commitments and statements in the Labour, Conservative, SNP and Liberal Democrat manifestos on pay, tax, regulation, international trade and development, and more.
