Human rights framework required
The Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, whose ten members include Barclays, ABB, Statoil and Time Warner’s MTV Networks Europe, has called for a common framework for companies on business and human rights. BLIHR says that the common framework should embody minimum standards but also include examples of performance increasingly expected by wider society.
These examples, it says, may be categorised either as expected or as desirable. This, BLIHR says, reflects two important points:
– some of the most effective and proactive contributions business can make should not be limited or enforced through regulation as over coming years, societal expectations will continue to change raising the bar
– companies which go beyond the legal minimum and make a positive contribution to human rights should also see some form of competitive advantage for their actions.
The recommendations were made BLIHR’s third report, which was published on June 6. Contact BLIHR www.blihr.org
Sustainable banking HSBC was overall winner of the inaugural FT Sustainable Banking Awards, announced on June 12. The global awards programme, launched in association with the International Finance Corporation, recognises banks that have shown leadership and innovation in integrating social, environmental and corporate governance objectives into their operations. The Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year award went to the Brazil-based Banco ABN Amro Real. The team responsible for sustainable projects at German bank WestLB won the Sustainable Bankers of the Year award, while Citigroup/Banamex and Financiera Compartamos of Mexico won Sustainable Deal of the Year. Contact Rita Jupe, IFC 00 1 202 458 8967 www.ifc.org
The state of the nations
Involvement in trade unions cost 10,000 workers around the world their jobs, and landed 1,700 in prison, the ICFTU’s Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights reveals. The survey, published on June 7, found that Latin America is the most dangerous place to engage in trade union activity, while levels of anti-union activity, allegedly often with government complicity were high in a number of Asian countries including Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Freedom of association, assembly and collective bargaining were eroded in the US and Australia too. The Australian government introduced anti-union laws through the country’s parliament at the end of the year and the Bush administration continued to undermine freedom of association and collective bargaining, allowing union-busting practices to flourish, the report said. Contact ICFTU 00 32 2 224 0204 www.icftu.org
Bribery remains rife
Most industrial nations, including the UK, are failing to live up to their own political promises on fighting corporate bribery abroad, according to a new survey by Transparency International, the anti-corruption watchdog.Two-thirds of the 31 countries that have signed an anti-bribery convention of the OECD “have achieved little or no enforcement” of the treaty, TI said. UK, Canada, Italy, Japan and Netherlands were singled out as the worst offenders. In the UK, Japan and the Netherlands, there has not been a single prosecution under the convention, as compared with 50 in the US and 22 in Hungary. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on June 22 appointed International Development Secretary Hilary Benn as ministerial champion for addressing international corruption. The government will also establish a new dedicated team for investigating international corruption. Contact TI 00 49 30 3438 200 www.transparency.org; Pete Lewis, Department for International Development 020 7023 1722 www.dfid.gov.uk
Building transparency
The Chartered Institute of Building announced on June 8 that it has signed up to the Anti-Corruption Forum, led by TI, an alliance of UK professional institutions, business associations and companies with interests in the domestic and international infrastructure, construction and engineering sectors, which aims to promote industry-led actions against corruption. Transparency International ranks the construction industry as the most corrupt sector in a global league table, with corruption estimated to cost around £3bn a year in Britain alone. Contact TI 00 49 30 3438 200 www.transparency.org
Poor show Cemex, ABN Amro and Tetra Pak are among the ten recipients of World Business Awards for best practice in the business sector for the alleviation of poverty and boosting development to reach the millennium development goals. The awards, announced on May 2, were coordinated by the IBLF, UNDP and the International Chamber of Commerce. Contact Claire Kilvert, IBLF 020 7467 3652 www.iblf.org
Fighting aids American Express, L’Oréal, Merck, the National Basketball Association, Unilever Tea Kenya and Xstrata Coal are the six companies and organisations recognised for their efforts to use their resources or core competencies to fight HIV/AIDS at the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS’ fifth Annual Awards for Business Excellence, which was held on May 22. The awards were sponsored by Standard Chartered . Contact Stephen Menaquale, GBC 020 7526 3658 www.businessfightsaids.org
The Chinese Association for Corporate Social Responsibility will be officially established in August. It is already supported by 20 companies including Nokia, Cisco, IBM and the China Merchants Bank.
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