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  • UN Office Geneva
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    LAB Fellows to speak at UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights

LAB Fellows to speak at UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights

From 25-27 November 2019 the UN will host its Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights. LSE LAB  Visiting Fellows Andrea Shemberg and Andrea Saldarriaga, along with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) are organising a panel discussion at the Forum on implementing the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in investment policy. 

The session, which will be held from 9:00 – 10:30 am on 26 November at the UN Palais in Geneva, has several aims. First, the session will help those attending the Forum to understand the full spectrum of expectations described in the UNGPs regarding States and investment policy making at the regional, national and international levels.

The Fellows will offer their views based on the Guide published by the Investment & Human Rights Project at the LAB on that topic.  Second, the panel will offer a review of what some States have been doing in practical terms to achieve such implementation. And finally, the panel discussion will also look towards the future by discussing cutting-edge ideas about how States might harness international investment agreement reform to strengthen access to remedy and corporate accountability for investment-related human rights abuses.

Surya Deva of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights will moderate the panel, and Elisabeth Tuerk from the UN Conference on Trade and Development will join panelists from the LSE LAB, CCSI and SEATINI.

The UN Forum is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

LSE LAB Fellows Shemberg and Saldarriaga have designed and participated in panel discussions at every UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights since they began […]

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    New Case Study on human rights challenges in the construction sector in Qatar

New Case Study on human rights challenges in the construction sector in Qatar

Over the course of 2019, LSE Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy Visiting Fellows Andrea Saldarriaga and Andrea Shemberg, in collaboration with Anna Triponel and Krystel Bassil, created a unique case study based on the experience of the French construction company VINCI in Qatar.

The case study was created with the agreement and involvement of the company, yet the voices of external stakeholders were fundamental to the design and editing of the case study, and full editorial control was left to the authors. The case study is based on close to 40 interviews of people within the company and other stakeholders such as investors, civil society and trade union representatives. The story relates to VINCI’s work in Qatar, the human rights challenges in that geography and the company response to a law suit filed in France by Sherpa, an NGO, for alleged human rights impacts in Qatar.

The case study was designed to help students in law, business, human rights and other related fields learn about business and human rights challenges, human rights due diligence in practice and evaluate the company’s reaction to the law suit brought by civil society. The case study contains deep detail about how VINCI worked in Qatar as well as the process that led to the initial response to the law suit brought by Sherpa.

A Teachers’ Note accompanies the case study, as does a set of exhibits. The case study can be used in a number of different ways by educators and practitioners, and the materials provided would allow users to use the case either in a short number of hours or even over a period of several weeks of classes or a semester.

The case study is now in its pilot […]

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    Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade Agreements – new report from Chatham House

Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade Agreements – new report from Chatham House

On 26 February, I chaired a discussion at Chatham House in London on human rights impact assessments (HRIA) of trade agreements. The basis for the discussion was a report authored by Dr. Jennifer Zerk, Chatham House Associate Fellow in the International Law Programme. This important report very usefully outlines the substantial challenges of carrying out HRIAs of whole trade agreements in a manner that yields useful data that can convincingly help policymakers design trade agreements that embed respect for human rights and protect the most vulnerable members of society.

Despite the thrust of the report, which was demonstrating the weaknesses in using HRIAs for whole trade agreements, Dr. James Harrison of the University of Warwick School of Law provided several examples of successful HRIAs where they have helped policymakers understand the impacts of trade provisions. However, as he clearly pointed out, those successful assessments have all been carried out in very specific contexts regarding either one set of trade provisions or a specific government measure. Additionally, successful HRIAs have often looked at a subset of human rights issues over time.

Richard James, the Evaluation Co-ordinator for the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission, described the evolution in the thinking at the Commission and some ways forward to improve the actual impact of the assessments being carried out. As of yet, however, there seems to be little evidence that the results of the impact assessments being carried out at EU level have directly influenced the formulation of trade policy.

In my view, ex ante HRIAs of an entire trade agreement just cannot deliver the kinds of data that can effectively help design human rights compliant trade policy. Consider just these three challenges:

HRIAs cannot address investment parts […]

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    Event: Can companies do business with Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory while respecting human rights?

Event: Can companies do business with Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory while respecting human rights?

14 November 2018  | 19.15 – 20.30  | LSE Alumni Theatre

 

 

On 1 February 2018, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its report on companies doing business in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The report states that “…violations of human rights associated with the settlements are pervasive and devastating, reaching every facet of Palestinian life,” citing restrictions on movement, freedom of religion, education and land ownership faced by Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. It goes on to say that “[b]usinesses play a central role in furthering the establishment, maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements,” and it describes the role of Israel in encouraging business to operate in settlements by providing financial incentives. Importantly, the report poses a set of live questions that governments, investors, companies, consumers and others should be asking:

Can companies do business with Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory while respecting human rights? If so, what are the criteria for judging whether they are doing so?

Please join us for a public event to discuss these questions and deepen our understanding of business and human rights in occupied territories.

Speakers:

• Peter Frankental, Economic Relations Programme Director Amnesty International, UK
• Dr. Jan Kleinheisterkamp, LSE Law Department, Transnational Law Project
• Phyllis Starkey, former MP and independent policy advisor
• Peter Webster, CEO of the EIRIS Foundation

Moderator: Andrea Shemberg, LSE Visiting Fellow, Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy

When: Wednesday 14 November 2018, 7:15 – 8:30 pm
Where: LSE New Academic Building, Alumni Theatre

RSVP* by 9 November 2018 to: law.events@lse.ac.uk

*Space is limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis

 

 

 

 

 

The urgent need to rethink investment policymaking

In a 2015 submission for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Expert Meeting on “The Transformation of the International Investment Agreement Regime”, Andrea Saldarriaga and Andrea Shemberg argued that much of the criticism levelled against international investment agreements (IIAs) and Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) actually reflected much wider disappointments and frustrations with what international investment was delivering (or failing to deliver) to people globally.

Read the full article here.

 

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    Chilean Delegation hosted by LSE Lab to discuss National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights

Chilean Delegation hosted by LSE Lab to discuss National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights

 

On 3 July Andrea Saldarriaga, Visiting Fellow at the Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy (Lab), hosted a delegation of representatives from the Chilean government, including both the Under-Secretary for the Economy and Business and President of the Social Responsibility Council for Sustainable Development and the Chilean Ambassador to the UK. The meeting addressed the Chilean National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights and explored possible avenues for effective implementation, including in the area of foreign investment. Dr. Jan Kleinheisterkamp, Associate Professor of Law at the LSE and Andrea Shemberg, Visiting Fellow at the Lab,  attended to provide their expertise. Other experts invited included Lise Johnson from the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, Suzanne Spears from Notre Dame Law School and Peter Frankental from Amnesty International UK. The meeting is one important piece of work that Saldarriaga is undertaking to build understanding around State implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

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    Andrea Saldarriaga presented on challenges to responsible business in Iran at OECD Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct

Andrea Saldarriaga presented on challenges to responsible business in Iran at OECD Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct

On 29 June 2017 Andrea Saldarriaga, Visiting Fellow at the Lab, spoke on a panel at the OECD Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct about how to ensure responsible infrastructure development in Iran.  Saldarriaga explained that the Government of Iran has identified infrastructure as one of the key areas in which it is seeking foreign investment. The government has identified what it calls an ‘urgent need’ to upgrade the country’s airports, rails, power generation, and water management. This is seen as critical to the country’s economic growth, and, as Saldarriaga highlighted, the imperative of infrastructure investment is magnified because infrastructure shortcomings have created bottlenecks that are thought to be driving away foreign investment in other areas.  Yet companies investing in Iran will face a number of complex challenges to responsible business.

While many are focused on sanctions, Saldarriaga highlighted risks that are receiving less attention but that are fundamental for people’s dignity and the viability of business ventures in infrastructure. These risks include, for example, the weak standards on occupational health and safety, where the rate of death from workplace injury in Iran is eight times the international average. Sixty percent of these deaths occur in the construction sector. There are also a number of risks related to the vulnerability of workers in infrastructure development in a country where 1/3 of the workforce is in the informal economy – with no social security or protection – and around 90% of the formal workforce is on temporary contracts where labour protections are weakly enforced.

Saldarriaga called on investors in infrastructure to pay special attention to the welfare of workers in their operations and those of their business partners and suppliers of products and services. She also called on mulitlateral […]

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    LSE hosts discussion on the Dutch Banking Sector Agreement on human rights

LSE hosts discussion on the Dutch Banking Sector Agreement on human rights

On 23 March, the Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights in collaboration with the Law and Financial Markets Project and the Transnational Law Project hosted an evening discussion on Financial Institutions and Human Rights. The event attracted over 40 participants from banks, banking associations, law firms, students, academics and civil society. Andrea Saldarriaga moderated the discussion centred on the Dutch Banking Sector Agreement on human rights. Representatives from the Dutch Banking Association, ING Bank in the Netherlands and Standard Chartered Bank in the UK offered their insights on the agreement and whether such an initiative might make sense in the UK context. A lively debate followed, which was initiated by Dr. Philipp Paech, Andrea Shemberg and Dr. Jan Kleinheisterkamp.

Lab and Investment & Human Rights Project to host Iran human rights expert

On 11 November the Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy (Lab) and the Investment & Human Rights Project (IHR Project) will host Dr. Hadi Ghaemi in a lunchtime discussion with MSc Human Rights students at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights.      Dr. Ghaemi is an internationally recognised Iran analyst and human rights expert. He worked with Human Rights Watch as the Iran and United Arab Emirates researcher and was a member of the first UN-commissioned human rights fact finding mission to Afghanistan. He is founder and Executive Director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, an organisation that has become one of the leading groups reporting and documenting human rights violations in Iran.

Now is an important moment for Iran. Following the ease of international sanctions, foreign investment is expected to grow quickly in Iran-after decades of isolation. However, investors will encounter a number of challenges in Iran, including with respect to human rights. Dr. Ghaemi will talk about the current state of human rights in Iran and will highlight some of the challenges that investors will confront in their efforts to engage in responsible business in Iran.

LSE Investment & Human Rights Project to host UN Panel

The LSE Investment & Human Rights Project (IHR Project) will host a high-level panel discussion at the upcoming UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights (UN Forum) in Geneva. The panel will discuss the experiences of governments and companies when implementing the UNGPs during major transitions–whether that be from conflict to peace or opening up to foreign investment after a period of isolation. Three country case studies will be at the centre of the discussion: Iran, Colombia and Liberia. The panelists include the ex-Attorney General from Liberia Christiana Tah, the Presidential High Commissioner on Human Rights from Colombia Paula Gaviria, the Secretary General of Ecopetrol Mónica Jiménez and the Executive Director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran Hadi Ghaemi. They will provide their insights about the specific country contexts and the challenges to UNGPs implementation. The panel will be moderated by IHR Project co-lead Andrea Shemberg.

This is the third time that the IHR Project has hosted a discussion at the UN Forum. The event this year is expected to attract over 2500 people from all over the globe. The updated programme be found here. The UN Forum is open to the public, but registration is required.

Session title: Implementing the UNGPs in times of major political, economic or social change: focus on investment
When: Monday 14 November, 16:40-18:00
Where: Palais des Nations, room XXII