Tag Archives: business

Of Slaves and Slave Masters: Strategic Litigation to Address Forced Labour in Global Supply Chains

| Beitrag von Linde Bryk und Claudia Müller-Hoff

Modern slavery in Qatar and other Gulf countries has received a lot of attention in light of the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup. Men from Nepal, India or Kenya come to work in the construction sector; women come to supply the growing service sector or as domestic workers, where they suffer similar exploitation and bear an additional risk of sexual abuse. These men and women are commonly stereotyped as passive victims, but they are all individuals who show courage and initiative , and the question is whether international human rights law can provide them with an effective remedy to enforce their individual human rights. Weiterlesen…

Jenseits der Konventionen: Transnationale Konzerne und die Menschenrechte

| Beitrag von Andrea Koch

Das ECCHR hat mit Unterstützung einiger seiner Partnerorganisationen die Bayer AG und die Bayer CropScience AG wegen deren Geschäftspraktiken in Indien bei der Landwirtschaftskammer Nordrhein-Westfalen angezeigt. Das Vorgehen ist wichtig, um den „Accountability Gap“ auch im Bereich des Exports von Pestiziden offenzulegen – und zukünftig möglichst zu schließen. Mit juristischen Mitteln allein lässt sich das Problem jedoch nicht lösen. Weiterlesen…

Supply chain liability: The lawsuit by Karachi claimants against retailer KiK in historic perspective

| Beitrag von Dr. Carolijn Terwindt

On 29 August 2016, the court (Landgericht) in Dortmund, Germany, issued an important decision: In a claim by Pakistani survivors and legal heirs against German retailer KiK for injuries and deaths during a fire at a factory supplying jeans in Karachi, the judges accepted jurisdiction and granted legal aid to the Pakistani claimants to cover the legal fees. While at the very same time the German National Action Plan on business and human rights turns out to be less about binding obligations than about voluntary responsibility, this judicial decision is a first step towards accountability for transnational human rights violations by German companies abroad. It is the first time that a transnational claim by workers and their families from a supplying factory against a retailer will be heard in Germany. Weiterlesen…