Updates & Resources

Business and human rights index report for Northern Ireland
Resources CJC Team Resources CJC Team

Business and human rights index report for Northern Ireland

The report assesses the corporate implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in Northern Ireland. It finds that none of NI's top 20 companies could demonstrate full engagement with the basic expectations set out by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The highest score was 54%. 

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Polling reaffirms:  4 in 5 UK adults want new UK laws requiring British companies to prevent human rights abuses and environmental damage
Civil Society CJC Team Civil Society CJC Team

Polling reaffirms: 4 in 5 UK adults want new UK laws requiring British companies to prevent human rights abuses and environmental damage

YouGov polling from April 2024 shows that more than 80% of British adults want new UK laws requiring British companies to prevent human rights abuses and environmental damage in their supply chain, and 73% think UK companies should be doing more to reduce their contribution to global warming.

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Over 150 businesses and investors call on the UK government to introduce a new law 
Businesses CJC Team Businesses CJC Team

Over 150 businesses and investors call on the UK government to introduce a new law 

The statement calls for a new law that ensures accountability when businesses cause or contribute to harms. It calls for the law to hold businesses legally liable for harm, loss and damage arising from their failure to prevent adverse human rights and environmental impacts within their operations and throughout their global value chains and to require them to adequately compensate victims of abuse.

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Private Members’ Bill in the House of Lords
Decision Makers CJC Team Decision Makers CJC Team

Private Members’ Bill in the House of Lords

In the Parliamentary session 2023-2024, Baroness Lola Young introduced a Private Members Bill in the House of Lords. The “Commercial Organisations and Public Authorities Duty (Human Rights and Environment) Bill” had its first reading on 28 November 2023 and its second reading on 10 May 2024 before collapsing due to the 2024 election.

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Bridging the gap: How could a UK Business, Human Rights and Environment Act have made a difference?
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

Bridging the gap: How could a UK Business, Human Rights and Environment Act have made a difference?

This report documents in 15 case studies how well-known UK companies, financial institutions and public bodies have been and continue to be connected to human rights abuses, worker exploitation and environmental harm at home and abroad. Find out how a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act could have made a difference.

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The Samarco dam disaster: BHP’s failure to take sufficient action (Brazil)
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

The Samarco dam disaster: BHP’s failure to take sufficient action (Brazil)

On 15 November 2015 the Fundão Dam, a holding structure for waste material from iron ore processing, collapsed and released 45 million cubic metres of waste into the River Doce. This killed 19 people and impacted the human rights of hundreds of thousands of people in surrounding communities including the human rights to life, health, water, food, adequate housing, work and education. Find out in our case study how a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act could have made a difference.

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JCB: due diligence in the illegally Occupied Territories (Palestine)
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

JCB: due diligence in the illegally Occupied Territories (Palestine)

JCB’s sole dealer in Israel is the Israeli company Comasco which holds contracts with Israel’s Ministry of Defence for the maintenance of the same model of JCB machines used in the demolition of Palestinian homes and property, and the construction of Israeli settlements. Find out in our case study how a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act could have made a difference.

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CDC Group: financing Feronia for palm oil (DRC)
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

CDC Group: financing Feronia for palm oil (DRC)

UK development finance is connected to palm oil plantations in northern Congo. Local communities claim that part of the plantations sit on land that was taken from them by the Belgian colonial administration. Land defenders are facing harassment and intimidation. Workers have been forced to work with toxic chemicals and local sources of drinking water are reportedly contaminated by industrial waste from the plantation. Find out in our case study how a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act could have made a difference.

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Land-grabbing for palm oil (Liberia)
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

Land-grabbing for palm oil (Liberia)

Communities in Liberia claim that UK agri-business EPO’s oil palm plantations have encroached on their land, which was illegally cleared for plantation, and that activities went ahead without their consent. As a result, they have lost their livelihoods, and community members who protested faced violence and intimidation. Find out in our case study how a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act could have made a difference.

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Cerrejón’s open pit mine (Colombia)
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

Cerrejón’s open pit mine (Colombia)

BHP Group, Anglo American and Glencore were the joint owners of the Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira, Colombia. The mining operations have led to the dispossession and displacement of 35 Wayúu Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities from their ancestral land, at times by brutal police evictions. Find out in our case study how a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act could have made a difference.

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Uyghur forced labour in murky value chains - the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (China)
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

Uyghur forced labour in murky value chains - the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (China)

Research has shown that dozens of international brands, including UK companies Marks & Spencer, Primark, River Island and Tesco are at risk of using cotton that is produced or processed by Uyghur forced labour. Companies have called for stronger laws, and a number of companies, including Marks & Spencer, have signed a “call to action” to remove their value chains from the region.

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Kabwe: Anglo American’s lead poisoning legacy (Zambia)
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

Kabwe: Anglo American’s lead poisoning legacy (Zambia)

For decades, the Kabwe mine was operated without adequate environmental safeguards, leading to lead contamination of the soil. Medical studies conducted over the past 45 years have shown extreme levels of lead in young children which has affected generations with lead encephalopathy and fatal lead poisoning. Find out in our case study how a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act could have made a difference.

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Spyware: activists tortured (Bahrain)
Case Studies CJC Team Case Studies CJC Team

Spyware: activists tortured (Bahrain)

Surveillance technologies such as FinFisher have been used as a means to exercise political control and to spy on activists, human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents to stifle political opposition and undermine democratic development. Find out in our case study how a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act could have made a difference.

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