Business and Human Rights

All companies have a responsibility to respect human rights in their operations. Amnesty International believes that the business community also has a wider responsibility - moral and legal - to use its influence to promote respect for human rights.

We aim to change law and regulations to ensure that companies are accountable for the human rights impacts of their operations.

The Business and Human Rights programme also aims to encourage companies to:

use their legitimate influence in support of human rights, in all countries where they operate
give effect to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
avoid complicity in human rights violations committed by other parties
include a specific commitment to human rights in their statements of business principles and codes of conduct
produce explicit human rights policies and ensure that they are integrated, monitored and audited
put in place the necessary internal management systems to ensure that their stated human rights policies are acted upon

India: Solidarity with Bhopal Survivors

A young boy holds a banner which has 'clean up Bhopal now' written on it Almost a quarter of a century after a catastrophic gas leak from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, survivors and their families continue to suffer, no one has been held to account and the contaminated Bhopal factory site has not yet been properly cleaned up. Take action

News

Companies Act passes into law: Amnesty urges Brown to go further
The biggest changes to company law have now come into effect. But in an open letter today (1 October) the CORE Coalition, Trade Justice Movement and Compass Group ask Prime Minister Gordon Brown to make corporate accountability central to his government's policies.

Companies Bill strengthened in Parliament Thank you to all activists who helped us strengthen the Companies Bill in Parliament. The UK now has a globally unprecedented set of regulations which forces large companies to show more respect to people and the environment. More about how we achieved some significant improvements to the Companies Bill

European Parliament demands environmental and social regulation for business Human rights and environmental groups have welcomed a European Parliament resolution passed on 13 March 2006 urging the European Commission to extend legal obligations in relation to corporate accountability, such as directors' duties, foreign direct liability and environmental and social reporting. Read the full story on corporate-responsibility.org

Safeguarding web freedom

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Event: Some People Think the Internet is a Bad Thing
On the 6 June activists from around the world discussed the struggle against internet repression and celebrated the irrepressible desire of people towards freedom of expression. This event included participation from internet gurus, cyber dissidents as well as net activists, writers and journalists. More about this event

Amnesty joins internet initiative
Companies including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! have agreed to enter a forum with campaign groups to discuss principles for safeguarding freedom of expression on the internet. To find out more read:

Amnesty International UK press release
'Internet giants bow to human rights protests' (The Observer)
'China censorship damaged us, Google founders admit' (The Guardian)

Reports

Survey on top retailers' policies to combat blood diamonds In a new survey Amnesty International UK and Global Witness reveals that many leading UK retailers still do not have effective policies in place to help British consumers avoid conflict diamonds. Read the survey (PDF) | More on blood diamonds

photo of pipelines from oil platform in the sea

Human Rights, Trade and Investment This report examines the role of financial institutions in shaping standards, considers the potential for integrating human rights into trade agreements, and reflects on the opportunity to advance the process of developing universally recognised standards for business. Read the report (PDF)

Latest news

UK: New report shows Government is failing to clamp down on UK company abuses overseas People in developing countries are exposed to human rights abuses, environmental degradation and economic loss because the UK Government is failing to effectively implement its flagship Corporate Social Responsibility scheme for corporate behaviour overseas, a new report reveals. Find out more | Read the report (pdf)

UK: Amnesty join criticism of decision to drop investigation into BAE Systems Amnesty International UK joined 130 charities and campaign groups in criticising the British government's decision to drop the Serious Fraud Office investigation into BAE Systems. In a letter to the Prime Minister Tony Blair the group calls for the investigation to be re-opened.
Find out more | Read the letter (pdf) | More about our control arms campaign