Launch of the “Human Rights at Sea” Initiative
On 3 April 2014 I had the pleasure to attend the launch of the Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) Initiative on board HMS President in London. David Hammond from 9 Bedford Row International Maritime Practice (London) is the founder of the initiative and the post below is his.
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The HRAS’ aim is to raise awareness of, and improve implementation and accountability for human rights throughout the maritime industry, especially where human rights protection is currently absent and rights are being abused.
Following over six months of concept development and continuing engagement with members of the international shipping community, State representatives, maritime associations, marine insurers, international lawyers, maritime charities and civil society NGOs, our independent maritime human rights’ platform has now gone live. The developing work areas remain a ‘work-in-progress’ and the initiative is an iterative process developed through ‘Supporting Entities’ and ‘Collaborative Partnerships’.
It is an independent international website that will provide a platform for maritime human rights discussions, lobbying, and sharing voluntarily applied commercial documentation covering the daily use of, policies for and understanding of human rights. The initiative will also develop a maritime position in relation to the 2011 UN Guiding Principles for business and human rights implementing the “Protect, Respect and remedy Framework”, which has yet to be undertaken.
The HRAS initiative has a number of key focal points and developing work areas that are being contributed to by international stakeholders. This is vanguard work and its strength is in the engagement by multiple international entities, all of whom have an interest in raising awareness of human rights issues at sea.
For further details, contact: david.hammond@9bedfordrow.co.uk.
Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations in Countries in Transition
© Photograph by Brittany Kaiser
Yesterday I had the pleasure to give a talk at the 9 Bedford Row International Conference on “Human Rights in Post-Revolution States” on board HMS President, the beautiful World War I warship docked on the Thames. My talk was on “Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations in Countries in Transition”.
The area of corporate accountability and transitional justice is relatively under explored. As far as I know there is only one book tackling it head on, “Corporate Accountability in the Context of Transitional Justice” edited by my colleague Professor Sabine Michalowski from Essex.
To make my talk more lively, I chose to present a selection of cases, or situations, so as to highlight the type of issues that are likely to arise when trying to hold corporations, or business people, accountable for human rights violations in countries that have transitioned from conflict to peace, or from authoritarian rule to democracy. I focused on the following cases:
1. Post World War II trials against industrialists and bankers in US zone of occupation in Germany; 2. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings on business (see previous post here); 3. The Apartheid cases before US federal courts (see previous post here); 4. The Van Anraat case in the Netherlands; and 5. The ongoing Amesys and Qosmos cases in France.
All of these cases bring to the fore the following question, which is fundamental to the business and human rights field: where to draw the line between making profit by doing business with a criminal regime, and being criminally or civilly liable? There is much uncertainty around this and unfortunately these cases provide no definite answers. In this context, I am expecting a lot from the Amesys and Qosmos cases which I hope to be able to review on this blog if/when trials are held in the future.
Short Human Rights Course at Middlesex – including half a day on “Business and Human Rights”
The intensive course “Confidence Crisis in Human Rights: Implications for the UK” will be held from 30 June to 4 July 2014 at Middlesex University School of Law, London. Human rights research is going strong at Middlesex. It is the home of world-renowned experts in the field, such as Professor William Schabas, who will be teaching various parts of the course.
The course will cover issues such as: the UK attitude towards to the European human rights system; hate speech; freedom of religion; the impact of austerity measures on human rights; migration; human rights in times of war and the actions of the Security Council; the environment; and business & human rights. I will be covering “business & human rights” for a whole morning on 4 July.
The course is for everyone with an interest in human rights issues such as journalists, policy makers, and students.
For the application form and for further information, please visit the webpage. You can also check the course brochure.
Tuition fee: £400 (£200 for Middlesex alumni). Accommodation, travel costs and other expenses are not included.
My name is Nadia Bernaz and I am Associate Professor of Law and Governance at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
My main area of research is business and human rights. I look at how corporations and businesspeople can be held accountable for their human rights impact through international, domestic and transnational processes.