Business and human rights

Many thanks to the thousands of you who took action by calling on your MP to support a ban on illegal Israeli settlement goods.

Amnesty International is calling on the organisers of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to conduct a “health check” on all of the event’s corporate partners, with Amnesty saying that the US letting company Airbnb is using the event to try to “sportswash its image”.

Amnesty International is calling on the UK construction equipment giant JCB to take measures to prevent its diggers and other machinery from being used in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories for the unlawful destruction of Palestinian homes or the construction of Israel’s vast network of illegal settlements.

All but one of the world’s largest venture capital firms have failed to put in place robust human rights due diligence policies, Amnesty International revealed today in a landmark new report.

As Airbnb prepares to go public in a multi-billion-dollar Initial Public Offering share offering, it must withdraw listings of rental properties in the illegal Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories.

Amnesty International is calling on business leaders participating in the “B20” summit in Saudi Arabia next week to avoid “dirty deals” and to indicate how they intend to prevent their companies becoming involved in human rights violations in the Kingdom.

A former auditor monitoring the supply chain of the leading global meat packing company JBS has called out the firm for falsely claiming its operations in Brazil’s Amazon region are deforestation-free.

Amnesty International has sent a 300,000-strong petition to TripAdvisor’s CEO Stephen Kaufer today calling on the online travel company to discontinue its operations in Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank.

The Israeli technology company NSO Group’s notorious spyware was used by the Moroccan government to spy on Moroccan journalist Omar Radi.

A human rights and climate change activist has challenged the oil giant BP over its lack of any reference to climate change in its human right policy.

Oil spills have contaminated the Niger Delta for over 60 years. As courageous campaigners are taking Shell to court, will this mark an end to the fossil fuel giant’s polluting business model?

While talks surrounding a potential Shell divestment in Nigeria focuses on economic impact, little emphasis is being placed on justice following 60 years of extraction.

Thanks to those who emailed Microsoft’s CEO asking him to investigate the use of child labour in parts they source to make their products - they are beginning to bow to pressure. 

Our world is increasingly powered by lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, ranging from the ones found in everyday mobile technologies, such as smartphones and laptop computers, to those in electric vehicles.

People around the world increasingly rely on rechargeable batteries to power their mobile phones, tablets, laptop computers and other portable electronic devices. The growing global market for portable electronic devices and rechargeable batteries is driving the growing demand for the extraction of cobalt, a key component in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.

Tell TripAdvisor to check out of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine

The Australian government has created an island of despair, where refugees fleeing persecution are trapped and live in appalling conditions, while companies make millions from their predicament.

When human rights complaints are made about UK companies, the UK government is more often than not ignoring them without investigation. There is a system to report abuses, but it's failing on every level - and letting companies abusing rights off the hook completely. Our Business Expert blogs.