News of Note

Ten Questions Enough and Global Witness Refuse to Answer Global Witness and The Enough Project pride themselves on their hard-hitting, pull-no-punches research into malefactors around the world, from African warlords to corrupt Western bankers. Central to their ethos is a belief in openness and transparency--in the idea, as the cliche goes, that sunshine is the best disinfectant.

The European Parliament today adopted a report on conflict minerals, drafted by Green MEP Judith Sargentini. The report comes at a crucial moment, with the European Commission set to present proposals

According to a former partner at Ernst & Young, the global accountancy firm turned a blind eye when a report of major audit failures at Dubai's biggest gold refinery went unpublished. A Global Witness report released today, City of Gold, considers the implications.

Dubai's biggest gold refiner committed serious breaches of the rules designed to stop gold mined in conflict zones from entering the global supply chain, a whistleblower has revealed. Amjad Rihan led an Ernst & Young team that audited Kaloti and found it was failing to carry out the proper checks.

Various initiatives by multi-stakeholder platforms, businesses, governments and trade unions in Europe have undertaken activities aimed at working towards a living wage in international supply chains. Nevertheless, questions still remain referring to best practices to integrate the living wage concept into corporate strategy and the implementation in supplier factories on the ground.

In a surprising move, Gap Inc. informed its employees on Wednesday that it would set $9 as the minimum hourly rate for its United States work force this year and then establish a minimum of $10 next year.

New Natural Capital Business Hub offers a searchable database of case studies and resources to help companies evaluate the business case for action on natural capital.

Posted: Print Article Imagine yourself working in a factory. One day you smell smoke. What do you do? Ignore it? Panic? Or follow the fire drill procedure you learned at a training last week? What you choose could save your life. Several thousand workers have been killed in factory fires across Asia in the last few years.

CLB's new research report on the workers' movement in China examines the relationship between workers, the trade union, civil society and the government during a period of rapid social and economic change. Photograph of Gaoya Jewellery factory workers in front of the Guangzhou Federation of Trade Unions.

Allen & Overy's Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) is delighted to publish the third issue of The Business and Human Rights Review, an interdisciplinary journal that brings together academia, business, NGOs and multilateral bodies to debate issues pertaining to the relationship between business and human rights.

For years, we've seen corporations rated, ranked and reviewed by a wide range of NGOs. This is often part of a name-and-shame campaign seeking big brands to make big changes. So this year we decided to turn the tables and have sustainability executives rate leading NGOs.