The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) has released its latest update on cases involving a wide range of business-related human rights abuses before the courts in a number of countries. Cases profiled by BCCHR include:

• “Anvil Mining (re Dem. Rep. of Congo): Lawsuit in Canadian court alleging that Anvil Mining was complicit in human rights abuses, including summary execution, torture and rape, committed against civilians by DRC soldiers during fighting in the village of Kilwa.

• US Deepwater Horizon explosion & oil spill: Representative selection of lawsuits against companies (BP, Halliburton, Transocean, etc.) in US courts raising human rights concerns following the explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, including deaths & injuries from the explosion; loss of livelihood; health of cleanup workers and residents.

• Nestlé, Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland (re Côte d’Ivoire): Lawsuit in US court brought by individuals who claimed they were trafficked as children from Mali to Côte d’Ivoire and used as forced labour on cocoa plantations supplying the defendant companies.

• Abu Ghraib – CACI and Titan (now L-3): Lawsuits filed in 2004 in US courts against these companies alleging complicity in the torture and mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The defendant companies are claiming immunity as government contractors.

• Statoil (re Human Rights Advisor): Lawsuit in US court alleging that the company made false promises and misrepresentations to Mitra Forouhar when they recruited her to be Human Rights Advisor at the company. Specifically, Ms Forouhar claims that the company promised that her job would allow her to develop and implement human rights risk assessments for Statoil, but that her attempts to work on such assessments were thwarted by her superiors.”

The portal also recent updates on developments in the following cases:

• Wal-Mart (re gender discrimination in USA)
• Shell (re Nigeria)
• Texaco/Chevron (re Ecuador)
• Vedanta Resources (re Dongria Kondh in Orissa)
• Rio Tinto (re Papua New Guinea)

In addition, the portal has news about upcoming events, jobs at BHRRC and links to the site’s other resources on business and human rights. Those interested to subscribed should email bengtsson@business-humanrights.org.

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(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: _Davo_, yomanimus, Steffen Jakob)