Rigorous terms needed for the accession of Brazil to the OECD
This week, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced that it would open accession discussions with six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru, and Romania. OECD Watch, a global network of over 130…
Mind the Gap submission on corporate capture to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
In this submission, the Mind the Gap consortium focuses on the widespread tolerance of corporate lobbying. To provide a background context in which this submission has been prepared, first our framework outlining strategies that corporations…
How a mining company avoids being held accountable for human rights violations in DR Congo
For over 15 years, a Chinese-owned mining company has been subjecting Congolese communities to serious human rights abuses and environmental destruction. A new report by PremiCongo, Afrewatch and ACIDH sheds light on how Ruashi Mining…
Strategies used by Ruashi Mining to avoid responsibility for human rights violations
Mind the Gap consortium condemns Israel’s designation of Al-Haq and other human rights groups as “terrorist organisations”
On the 19th of October, the Israeli Defense Ministry declared six Palestinian civil society organisations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) to be “terrorist organisations”. One of the organisations affected by the decision is Mind…
Transparency needed regarding annual update UN database
While the world is facing the devastating impacts of the Corona pandemic, Israel has escalated its illegal demolition of Palestinian homes and properties, hitting a four-year high. With this statement therefore, SOMO together with 41…
Debating mandatory human rights due diligence legislation: a reality check
Many countries are adopting or considering mandatory human rights due diligence legislation. In April 2020, the EU Commissioner for Justice committed to an EU-wide initiative on corporate due diligence, to be presented in 2021. These…
Re-cap: 2020 negotiations over binding treaty on business and human rights
The final week of October saw the sixth round of negotiations for a Binding UN Treaty to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises. As in previous years, SOMO participated. However, this…
Solidarity with the Indonesian people against omnibus law
SOMO supports a statement by the Asia Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) in solidarity with the people’s movement in Indonesia who are struggling to reclaim democratic rights and economic sovereignty against the monopolist power of oligarchs…
SOMO and Al-Haq submit report to UN on German multinational HeidelbergCement
SOMO and its partner organisation Al-Haq have submitted a report to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, suggesting to include German multinational HeidelbergCement in the yearly update of the UN Database of companies…
Five strategies corporations use to avoid responsibility for human rights abuses
Hiding behind complex supply chains, undermining unions, disseminating distorted information – these are just a few of the ways that corporations try to avoid responsibility for human rights abuses and environmental damage across their supply…
Mind the Gap
Gaps in Governance of Responsible Business Conduct in Brazil
Submission to the UN Open-ended working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises
ACIDH, Al-Haq, ECCJ, PremiCongo, PODER and SOMO sent in a joint submission to the UN Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights. SOMO and its partners…
German cement giant involved in serious violations against Palestinians
The German multinational HeidelbergCement is complicit in the pillaging of natural resources from the Nahal Raba quarry in the occupied West Bank, with serious human rights violations against Palestinians, a new report by SOMO and…
Violations Set in Stone
Providing remedy for victims of human rights violations in Brazil
The ‘Mind the Gap’ project, coordinated by SOMO, is a four-year project. With this project we want to increase respect for human rights and effective access to justice and remedy for individuals and communities whose lives…