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The European Union (EU) is negotiating a veritable epidemic of “Association Agreements” or “Cooperation Agreements” throughout the world. In addition to the almost 30 agreements already signed, the EU is currently negotiating, or about to begin negotiating, further agreements with more than 40 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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’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 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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 of (...)

When companies start talking about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) they mostly do so in the hope of winning back lost legitimacy and credibility. Syngenta, a leading producer of pesticides and genetically modified seeds and a frequent target of civil society indignation and media (...)

The publication shows how local residents, workers and the environment pay the price for ArcelorMittal’s success. The compilation contains case studies examining Mittal’s IFC- and EBRD-financed plants in Romania, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan. Download the report (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

Why the question is important? Corporate citizenship or corporate social responsibility (CSR) may be defined in terms of proactive efforts by business decision-makers to contribute to sustainable development (WBCSD 2002). Many hope or even expect that such efforts will be decisive. For (...)

Assaulted on all sides owing to its entanglement in the ZTE-NBN corruption scandal, the administration has confronted its critics with the image of an economy that is purring along, that is doing just fine except for the rise in the price of rice, for which it says it is blameless. Read (...)

Who’s got the Universal Code? examines attempts by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry associations to develop and promote a “universal” code of conduct that would be applicable to one or more sectors in the globalized economy. Maquila Solidarity Network also compares and contrasts key (...)

World cereal production in 2008 is forecast to increase 2.6 percent to a record 2 164 million tonnes. The bulk of the increase is expected to be in wheat following significant expansion in plantings in major producing countries. Coarse grains output is tentatively forecast to remain around the (...)

The report focuses on working conditions in the production of consumer electronics such as mobile phones and laptops in Poland. Since the majority of workers involved in this production are women, and as the report is prepared by Karat Coalition, a non-governmental organisation focusing on (...)

Both, electronics production and WEEE-recycling have major social impacts on workers, neighbouring communities and the Chinese society: While electronics production is a major driver for the country’s economic development and makes up almost two thirds of the country’s export surplus, the (...)

The Olympic Games is both a symbolic and a practical opportunity to ensure that these global sporting games live up to the ideals enshrined in the Olympic charter and that people who enjoy the games can also know that the souvenirs and garments they wear are produced in factories where basic (...)