Tous les articles et traductions

Reflections on the III Americas Social Forum, Guatemala

By Michael Leon Guerrero and Cindy Wiesner Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

The 3rd Americas Social Forum (ASF3) convened October 7-12, 2008 in Guatemala City was an important and exciting benchmark for the global social forum process. It was grounded by its grassroots nature with strong participation of peasants, women, and indigenous peoples, and by the dialogues and (…)

, by Pambazuka

Africa and global finance: potential resistance?

by Patrick Bond

Far-reaching strategic debate is underway about how to respond to the global financial crisis, and indeed how the North’s problems can be tied into a broader critique of capitalism.
At minimum, the ongoing chaos offers new ideological space and material justifications for African finance (…)

, by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC)

Diamonds and Human Security : Annual Review 2008

Just as peace is not simply the absence of war, an end to conflict diamonds does not necessarily mean that diamonds will create prosperity or that human security will prevail in the areas where they are mined. The campaign to halt conflict diamonds has largely succeeded, although the phenomenon (…)

Corporate Social Responsibility: Whose Voice Is Heard?

MVO Platform

“The voice from the South is not heard enough when it comes to defining corporate social responsibility.” That message came clearly across during the CSR World Wide Week in May 2008. Some 27 civil society representatives, mainly experts from NGOs and trade unions, from Eastern Europe, Africa, (…)

, by Bilaterals

Food Safety on the Butcher’s Block

by Christine Ahn

On April 11, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a report that found that of the national efforts to improve U.S. food safety, “none of the targets were reached in 2007.” According to the CDC, 76 million Americans — one in four — come down with food poisoning every year. Among the most (…)

, by Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)

Silenced to Deliver: Mobile Phone Manufacturing in China and the Philippines

MakeITfair, SOMO and SwedWatch, September 2008, 76 p. (pdf)

The mobile phone industry is often presented as a clean, unproblematic industry, but makeITfair’s report ’Silenced to Deliver’ shows that this is not the case. Young electronics workers handle chemicals without protective gear. They work inhumane overtime hours to cover basic needs and are (…)

Generic Medicines

Euractiv

A generic medicine is a pharmaceutical product that is no longer protected by a patent and which can be copied by other companies. It may be marketed either under its own brand or as an unbranded product. European governments are increasingly relying on generics to save on healthcare costs and (…)

Let’s Clean Up Fashion 2008: The state of pay behind the UK high street

Martin Hearson, Labour Behind the Label, Septembre 2008, 50 p., pdf

The fashion industry has always struggled to talk about the living wage in an open and consistent way. Two years ago, brands and retailers said it wasn’t a problem, or that if it was, it was somebody else’s. Last year they agreed that they ought to do something, but hadn’t quite got round to it (…)

, by Bilaterals

Pacific civil society organisations statement on trade justice

Pacific NGOs, churches and trade unions working on trade justice issues are concerned about the push for free trade agreements in the Pacific and the grave risk that these agreements pose for our people. For much of the past decade Pacific Island Countries have faced pressure from our developed (…)

ESCR-Net Collective Report on Business and Human Rights - 2008

ESCR-Net

ESCR-Net’s Corporate Accountability Working Group is pleased to announce the release of its Collective Report on Business and Human Rights.
Presented directly to Members of the 8th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva during the first week of June 2008, this Collective Report on (…)

Fair law: legal proposals to improve corporate accountability for environmental and human rights abuses

Filip GREGOR, Hannah ELLIS, European coalition for corporate justice (ECCJ), May 2008, 33 p.

The first Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) can be traced back in law to the industrial age, amongst a backdrop of vast improvements in global transportation, rapidly expanding manufacturing industries and emerging notions of free trade. New legal structures were required to accommodate the huge (…)

Legislative opportunities to improve corporate accountability at EU level

European coalition for corporate justice (ECCJ), May 2008, 20 p. (pdf)

The European Coalition for Corporate Justice was founded in 2005 with a mission to promote an ethical regulatory framework for European business, wherever in the world that business may operate. The European Coalition for Corporate Justice’s members represent a diverse range of groups from (…)

, by Choike

Oil companies in developing countries

A large body of evidence suggests that rich oil resources obstruct democracy and equitable economic growth in developing countries because of a lack of transparency, and therefore accountability, in oil revenues paid by oil companies to governments.
The human rights implications of the (…)

, by Science and Development Network (SciDev.Net)

Q&A: Advocating open source drugs

T. V. Padma

Brahmachari: "Why should we worry about intellectual property protection for infectious diseases and diseases of the poor?"
Leading geneticist Samir Brahmachari explains why India should kickstart a new ’open source’ approach to drug discovery for diseases like TB.
Samir Brahmachari is one (…)

, by ELDIS

The world food situation: new driving forces and required actions

by J. von Braun

The world food situation is being rapidly redefined, as income growth, climate change, high energy prices, globalisation, and urbanisation transform food consumption, production, and markets. This paper provides an overview of the the key forces driving these changes, and considers what policy (…)

, by ONU

Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights

Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John Ruggie, April 2008

Responding to the invitation by the Human Rights Council for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises to submit his views and recommendations for its consideration, this report presents a (…)