Chloé Maurel:“Under the 17 ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) proclaimed by the UN in 2015, goal 6 aims to ensure access to and the sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. But will these declarations remain a dead letter in a world where they have no binding force and the UN has no power to [...]Read the full article
Following a decade of struggle, pensioners from Africa’s largest alumina plant and their families are finally able to benefit from their social security rights.Read the full article
Between 2,500 and 3,000 workers have come together to file a case in Scotland against James Finlay Kenya, accusing the company of creating the terrible working conditions that have caused them life-limiting musculoskeletal injuries.Read the full article
Daniel Kostzer:“The response to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse are both powerful examples of the underlying logic of capitalism, that a bank can be bailed out in a matter of hours but during the Covid-19 pandemic it took most governments several months before deciding to intervene to [...]Read the full article
“The same individuals who own the garment factories also hold positions in the parliament and cabinet. There is no representative of the workers in the parliament. The rulers are exploiting us.”Read the full article
While Moroccan legislation guarantees a number of individual freedoms and social rights, including freedom of association, workers who make too many demands are likely to face harsh reprisals.Read the full article
The new directive makes possible EU-wide class actions for breaches of 66 different EU directives and regulations, from legislation related to medical devices to the EU’s seminal 2018 GDPR privacy law.Read the full article
Daniel Kostzer:It is clear that the popular narrative about worker shortages and layoffs is aimed at building a cultural consensus against workers and the labour movement, and is based on biased, partial, and even contradictory definitions.Read the full article
Steve Rushton:“Since the 1980s, scientists have driven the response to the unfolding climate emergency. Countering this, an industrial complex has developed to deny what is happening and stymie meaningful action, funded by the world’s most profitable fossil fuel [...]Read the full article
The globalised and financialised agri-food system not only has a serious socio-environmental impact; it is also tremendously inefficient and a risky bet if the aim is to guarantee food supply.Read the full article
Hundreds of dockworkers at Greece’s largest port are demanding better working conditions and a new collective agreement. Ever since the Chinese state-owned enterprise COSCO became the majority owner of the Piraeus Port Authority, workers there have had fewer rights and [...]Read the full article
Jan Willem Goudriaan :Organising care on a not-for-profit basis is good for society, good for taxpayers, good for people who need care and support, and good for care workers.Read the full article
Joseph Baines:Commodity traders wreak havoc on global markets and profit from ecological and social devastation. Can they be stopped?Read the full article
“By framing hunger as a ‘shortage’ and ‘market access’ issue, it glosses over the fact that poverty, injustice, occupation, neocolonialism and inequality are at the heart of hunger.”Read the full article
Mexico ranks first in the world in childhood obesity and second in adult obesity. Until recently, studies addressing the causes of obesity have focused on the poor choices made by individuals, but have rarely looked at the obesogenic [...]Read the full article
The billions that the most powerful corporations avoid paying in taxes are crucial for a just economic recovery in the post-pandemic era. The G20’s stance on global tax justice will be decisive in turning the tide.Read the full article
European chocolate makers will make a significant portion of their annual turnover around Easter time thanks in part to cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s leading producer. But this ‘brown gold’ is the product of an environmentally destructive industry with precarious working [...]Read the full article
The BPO sector is one of the fastest-growing industries in the Caribbean, but decent jobs are often less of a concern than the number of jobs created.Read the full article
Can the inclusion of social or environmental objectives in a company’s articles of association help to make them more virtuous? Whilst it may help promote a shift in business mindsets, it may also amount to little more than ‘fairwashing’.Read the full article
Since 2006, approximately 30,000 women have lost their jobs in large-scale, often multinational-owned, tea companies because of mechanisation.Read the full article
Chloé Maurel:Every year, US$88.6 billion leaves Africa in the form of illicit capital flight, according to the UN. Africa is affected more than all other continents, making it a net creditor to the rest of the world, contrary to the popular belief of an Africa aided by the countries of the [...]Read the full article
Aruna Kashyap :Brands that truly support workers’ rights in their supply chains should stop relying on social audits to drive labour compliance, especially regarding wages and working hours.Read the full article
Growing vertical and horizontal integration in the agricultural industry – with ever bigger corporations controlling a greater share of the food system – is one of the main risks attached to the technological advances in farming. And tech companies are already showing an interest in the [...]Read the full article
Argentina’s trade unions are faced with the challenge of putting a just energy transition on the agenda, a transition combining sustainability with the principles of social and environmental justice.Read the full article
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in soaring profits for US tech giant Amazon, but around the world, workers, small businesses, local communities and national economies are all paying the price.Read the full article
Despite the government’s stated intention to put an end to the practice, child labour remains a reality in Congo’s mining sector. In the absence of effective political coordination to address the problem, trade union, community and non-profit leaders are working to tackle the root causes as well [...]Read the full article
Makbule Sahan:The failure of many firms to clearly demonstrate their respect for human rights during the Covid-19 pandemic not only highlights the limitations of voluntary corporate social responsibility standards, but flaws in the global supply chain model [...]Read the full article
Originally created to protect energy investments in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, the international agreement, which includes the European Union as a member, allows companies to sue countries for passing laws that threaten their [...]Read the full article
In 2013, year zero of the ethical awakening in the fashion industry, absolutely everyone – brands, states, consumers – came to know about the dismal and perilous conditions in the factories that dress our shop windows. The current health emergency is exposing the seams of inadequate [...]Read the full article
Benjamin Hourticq:In response to the coronavirus pandemic, some large multinational corporations are putting their money and production capacities at the service of societies. But behind the scenes, they are working hard to ensure the preservation of the same economic model currently being called into question [...]Read the full article
Three years after France passed a law aimed at preventing companies from hiding behind their status as buyers in the event of human or environmental rights violations, the legislation continues to raise hope among NGOs, at the same time as revealing its [...]Read the full article
A movement in favour of food sovereignty and agroecological practices is gathering momentum. And the role of women, who identify the agribusiness model with the patriarchal system and are insisting on the need to include a gender perspective in agroecology, is [...]Read the full article
Renewable energy companies are repeating the same business practices for which the fossil fuel industry has been criticized – practices that are very far from being clean.Read the full article
Stan De Spiegelaere:Workers invest their labour on a daily basis in the companies they work in. This is an equally important investment which should therefore come with ownership rights.Read the full article
The less reliant farmers are on agribusiness, and the more resilient the seeds they plant are to the vagaries of climate change, the better for the livelihoods of India’s farmers.Read the full article
Could recognition by the International Criminal Court of ecocide as a crime provide a legal tool for protecting the environment from the actions of multinationals?Read the full article
Sharan Burrow:How can transnational corporations be held to account in a world of nation states? A binding UN treaty would be an important step.Read the full article
Rashmee Roshan Lall:The point of a new travel model would be to forge the real linkages that enrich the visitor just as much as the people and the place they have visited. This has never been more important.Read the full article
Several Indigenous groups have accused major fashion brands of copying their designs without compensation and causing serious harm to their cultures.Read the full article
Arnaud Zacharie:Ensuring tax justice at all levels would not only reduce inequality and address the democratic fatigue of citizens, but it would also free up significant financial resources for social and ecological transition.Read the full article
Justine Nolan:Prominent initiatives to address forced labour in supply chains are likely to fall short of their stated objectives because they fail to tackle the root causes of forced labour.Read the full article
Mathilde Dorcadie:The critical state of our common natural heritage is all of our responsibility. The rainforest is burning because we’ve let it happen.Read the full article
In its thirst to attract foreign investment, Ethiopia is selling off its natural resources, like water, used notably for the production and export of roses.Read the full article
The ‘lithium triangle’, consisting of salt flats in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, is home to major reserves of the world’s supply of lithium. The mineral is set to play an important role in the transition to renewable energy, but its extraction negatively impacts indigenous communities and [...]Read the full article
Sharan Burrow:As a publicly listed company, Uber will have to maintain growth and show movement towards profitability to convince investors of its value. This can only be bad news for workers.Read the full article
Mayra Castro :In his first four months in government, Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has adopted measures that have thrown Brazil’s fulfilment of the Agenda 2030 goals off track.Read the full article
Leo Baunach:There is a crisis of multilateralism, rooted in decades of rising inequality and the favouring of profits over people. If changes are not made, the crisis of multilateralism will worsen and the ground on which the Bank stands will [...]Read the full article
Fatimah Kelleher :Orthodox economic models have failed us all, but women across Africa are resisting them and coming up with visionary alternatives.Read the full article
Brazil has experienced two unprecedented human and environmental disasters, in 2015 and 2019, caused by burst mining dams. Ever since, all those who live near similar dams live in fear of another disaster.Read the full article
Eight years after the 2011 revolution and the fall of President Ben Ali, the opening of the Tunisian economy to foreign investment continues, along with labour law reforms and violations.Read the full article
Bert De Wel:Plastic pollution not only threatens the job security of fishermen all around the world, it also endangers the food security and food safety of the whole planet.Read the full article
Argentina is one of the countries in the world where agribusiness is at its strongest; it is also a country with a long tradition of food production where alternatives to the dominant model are flourishing and creating their own [...]Read the full article
Clean Clothes Campaign:“Taking decisive action would demand that brands reach deeper into their profit margins and cut a bigger slice of the pie for those whose hard labour is behind the clothes that fills their glossy shops.”Read the full article
“As Native Americans, we are doubly sanctioned. On the one hand, we are not recognised as Indigenous peoples. On the other hand, although we are French, our rights as citizens are not respected.”Read the full article