Extract

Every day numerous human rights abuses are committed by thousands of corporations around the globe. They happen in both developing and developed countries. Recent examples are the Foxconn suicides in Shenzhen or the BP Oil spill in the U.S. The abuses that companies are involved or implicated in range from denials of freedom of expression or association, unfair trials, abductions, arbitrary detentions, violence, rape and sexual abuses, torture and ill-treatment, deaths and genocide, to all forms of discrimination, harm to the environment and health and safety issues. These abuses happen practically all over the world; in many sectors of the economy: agriculture, food, tobacco, apparel and textiles, commercial sex and pornography, finance, health, media, manufacturing, chemicals, metals, plastics and basic materials, weapons, security equipment, and technology. The global financial turmoil of 2008 triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis, which led to a series of financial institutions’ failures and debts crises, has also had its impact on companies.