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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 (...)

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 (...)

“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, (...)

Historically, women workers hold a marginal position in discussions on workers’ rights. Instead, such rights have been developed with male, full-time and regular employment as the model. For a feminist analysis a central question is how these measures impact the conditions for women workers (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)

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 (...)