Jun 24, 2013 | News
The recent Rana Plaza building disaster, in Bangladesh, could, and should, have been averted if the government had performed its obligation to adequately protect the workers, the ICJ said today.
“The Rana Plaza collapse, which killed 1,131 workers and injured close to 2,500 others, is the most recent in a long list of industrial disasters brought about by the government’s failure to regulate and monitor workplace conditions and sanction private entities violating the law,” said Sheila Varadan, ICJ Legal Advisor on South Asia. “To single out and focus solely on the role of multi-national companies does not reflect the full picture.”
“While the ICJ does not minimize the responsibility of private enterprises, unless the underlying systemic issues such as institutional weaknesses, corruption and lack of enforcement are addressed, such tragedies will continue to happen,” Varadan added.
Litigation is a vital tool to ensure accountability, remedy and reparations, where government agencies fail in their essential functions.
The Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), a leading national human rights organization, has been petitioning the Supreme Court over the past decade, obtaining orders against government agencies and seeking compensation for victims and their families in work-related disasters.
“The government of Bangladesh must take active measures to ensure its regulatory framework is adequate and effective; its laws are rigorously enforced; and victims are adequately compensated,” Varadan also said. “Failing to do so not only violates Bangladeshi law but is also in breach of Bangladesh’s obligations to protect human rights under international law.”
CONTACT:
Sheila Varadan, ICJ Legal Advisor, South Asia Programme (Bangkok), t: +66 857200723; email: sheila.varadan(at)icj.org
Sam Zarifi, ICJ Asia-Pacific Regional Director, (Bangkok), t:+66 807819002; email: sam.zarifi(at)icj.org
Bangladesh-Rana Plaza-Public interest litigation-backgrounder-featured article-2013 (full text in pdf)
Bangladesh-WGBHR5-OralStatement-LegalSubmission-2013 (full statement to the Working Group on Business and Human Rights)
Jun 20, 2013
This is the Report of the Legal Seminar organized in Geneva by the ICJ with the support from Geneva for Human Rights, FIAN International and Al-Haq on 31 May 2013.
The seminar was convened to provide a space for in depth discussion of specific cases that illustrate many of the legal and political obstacles that victims of corporate human rights abuse face in their pursuit of justice.
It is one among several activities the ICJ is undertaking with a view to assessing the need for a new international instrument in the field of business and human rights.
The seminar was held under Chatham House rules.
Universal-Report Corporate Complicity Legal Seminar-publications-seminar report-2013 (full text in pdf)
Jun 19, 2013
This side event was held recently at the UN Human Rights Council. If you missed it, you can read the summary report and/or watch it here. Listen also to interviews of human rights defenders from Ecuador and Uganda.
UNSideEvent-Corporate complicity-conference report-2013 (full text in pdf)
Watch the side event:
Listen to the interview in Spanish with Humberto Piaguaje Lucitante (Ecuador)
Listen to the interview in Spanish with Pablo Fajardo Mendoza (Ecuador)
Listen to the interview with Peter Kayiira (Uganda)
May 30, 2013 | Agendas, Events
The event will be held Friday, 31 May 2013, from 16.00 to 18.00, in Geneva, Palais des Nations, Room XXVII. It marks the 5th anniversary of the HR Council adoption of the Framework “Protect, Respect and Remedy”.
It also promotes the publication of the ICJ Report on “Corporate complicity in international crimes”. It will highlight the fact that the business and human rights agenda in the Human Rights Council remains unfinished, especially in the critical areas of access to justice and accountability, as well as the need for bold Council action to provide States and other actors with the necessary tools to ensure remedy and justice to victims of serious human rights abuses committed by or with the complicity of corporations in home and host countries.
HR Council-UN SIDE EVENT Business-Event-2013 (full text in pdf)
May 7, 2013 | Advocacy, Legal submissions
The ICJ today submitted to the United Nations a written statement concerning corporate complicity in human rights abuses and access to justice for victims of such abuses.
The statement is made ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 23rd session (27 May to 14 June 2013) and comments on a report of the Council’s Working Group on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
Setting out issues concerning obstacles to justice for victims of human rights abuses by business enterprises, the ICJ calls on the Working Group to take various steps to address such issues, including by:
- Exploring the further development of international standards;
- Raising specific allegations of corporate abuse with relevant State authorities and business enterprises; and
- Addressing more clearly the issue of access to justice in cases of corporate complicity.
HRC23-Item3-WGBHR-WrittenStatement-LegalSubmission-2013 (download statement in PDF)
