Namibia hosts the Kimberley Process Intersessional Meeting in Windhoek starting tomorrow. Namibia's Deputy Mines Minister, Bernhard Esau, who chairs the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), has a problem on his hands:  protecting the integrity and credibility of the Process and the international diamond industry.

The computer industry should make it clear to the Chinese government that it will not cooperate in efforts to curtail access to information on the internet through government-mandated or provided filtering software such as the "Green Dam Youth Escort" program.

I am writing to express concern over the Chinese government’s directive of May 19, 2009, “Notification Regarding Requirements for Pre-Installing Green Filtering Software on Computers,” and the human rights implications it may have for your company in China and abroad.

People in countries across the world are regularly harmed when businesses fail to respect basic human rights, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law.

The United Nations Security Council should act to prohibit any new investment in Burma’s oil and gas fields and block company payments that help sustain Burma’s brutal military rule, Human Rights Watch said today.

151 human rights organizations, socially responsible investment organizations, and concerned individuals write to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises, to share their views on how he might most effectively advance the protection of human rights in the context of business activities during the remainder of his mandate.

We are writing to express our concern regarding a serious shortcoming in the new Global Social Compliance Programme (GSCP), launched by five of the world’s largest retailers (Carrefour, Metro, Migros, Tesco, and Wal-Mart). The program is self-described as a “shared and global approach for the improvement of working conditions in the global supply chain.” It is silent, however, on working conditions in the facilities owned and operated by these and other companies that may ultimately join the initiative. This glaring omission creates the possibility that GSCP member companies’ direct employees will enjoy fewer rights protections than those laboring in their supplier facilities.

We appreciate the Human Rights Council’s continued focus on business and human rights and the Special Representative’s attention and commitment to working on this complex subject. We are grateful for the opportunity to offer our views today. We will focus our remarks on three central points.