Tag: Business & Human Rights

Access and our partners are alarmed by recent political events in Thailand; less than a week after a military coup took control of civilian institutions, the country is now witnessing a crackdown on free expression online and offline.

Access reiterates its call to DHS to investigate censorship of Mexican political protest website

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a free trade agreement currently being negotiated between the United States and the European Union, aiming at increasing trade and (dangerously) seeking “regulatory coherence.” If adopted, TTIP would become the world’s largest free trade and investment agreement, opening both markets for exchange in goods, services, investment, and public procurement.

The South Africa-based telco MTN, which operates in 21 countries across the Middle East and Africa, recently released its first Group Human Rights Policy. MTN announced its support for user rights to privacy, security, communication and information, using the Access “Telco Action Plan” as a guiding policy document.

As two major international trade agreements are being negotiated, an increasingly contentious debate is taking place on the need to include an Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. This mechanism enables companies to sue governments and challenge legislation in arbitration courts (outside of domestic judicial systems.

Our previous analysis of African stakeholders’ contributions to the initial NetMundial open submission process found that stakeholders from Africa emphasized human rights and role of governments in matters of internet governance.

Deutsche Telekom discloses its 2013 requests from German law enforcement.

Today, the USA FREEDOM Act, in an amended form, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a unanimous vote of 32-0 (7 not voting). Among several legislative proposals to reform the NSA currently discussed by U.S. Congress, Access believes there is only one that will meaningfully change foreign intelligence surveillance: the USA FREEDOM Act.

Today, Access and other civil society groups in the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), published a joint letter outlining the seven concrete steps each country must take to ensure that they effectively implement the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).