Guide to the Resource Centre website
Our website is updated hourly with news and reports about companies' human rights impacts (positive and negative) worldwide.
There are tens of thousands of links on the site. This page is designed to help you navigate it easily and find the information you need. More about the Resource Centre as an organization is in “About us”.
News
- Homepage news and RSS feed
- Free Weekly Updates by email
The Weekly Updates provide the top stories on business & human rights. Currently 14,000 people worldwide receive these Updates for free; if you wish to receive the Updates, sign up here. The full text of all past Weekly Updates is in the Weekly Updates archive.
- Social media: you can also follow the Resource Centre on Twitter and Facebook.
The library
The core of the website is the library. Reports, articles and other materials in the library can be viewed by:
- Company – sections on over 6000 companies
- Region & country
- Issue – discrimination, health, labour, environment, etc.
- Industry sectors
- Business organizations
- Company policy & steps – including company policies, implementation & reporting
- Law & lawsuits
- Principles – including the UN Guiding Principles, Universal Declaration, OECD Guidelines, etc.
- UN & other intergovernmental organizations
- Miscellaneous – including events, courses, job postings
Company responses & non-responses
When civil society raises concerns about a company's human rights impact, before we include the allegations on our website and in our Weekly Update, we invite the company to respond (if a public response is not yet available). We do this to be objective and fair to all sides, and to encourage business to publicly address human rights issues that they might otherwise ignore. In some cases this process leads to dialogue between the company and stakeholders, and has even helped to bring about resolution of some issues. In all cases it increases transparency. Charts with all the company responses, non-responses and positive initiatives featured in the Updates can be downloaded here.
Search functions
The search box is on the homepage and all inside pages of the site. The search results show items containing all the words you enter into the search box, as well as relevant sections of the website. Once you have initial search results, you will see filters that allow you to narrow the results by company involved, country, issue or other topic, date, language, etc.
"Big Issues"
In addition to this Getting Started portal, the Resource Centre has the following special sections on "Big Issues", all of which are also accessible via buttons on the homepage:
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights - text of the Guiding Principles, tools for implementation of human rights obligations by companies, governments, NGOs & others, commentaries; also: UN Working Group materials, including submissions to it; history of the Guiding Principles including all materials relating to the work of UN Special Representative John Ruggie
Corporate legal accountability - profiling human rights lawsuits brought against companies around the world
Global binding treaty: Pros & cons of a proposed treaty on business & human rights - materials & events on the debate regarding a proposal for a new UN treaty on business & human rights
Business, conflict & peace - focusing on conflict zones, where abuses are most severe, where the risk of corporate complicity is greatest, and where victims are the most vulnerable
Business & freedom of association - highlighting companies' impacts on freedom of associaiton, union rights and the right to strike, positive & negative, as well as relevant standards, principles & lawsuits
Technology companies & human rights - highlighting impacts of companies in information & communications technology sector on freedom of expression, privacy & the right to protest
Natural resources - highlighting fairness & accountability in companies’ use of oil, gas, coal, minerals, land and water
Human rights defenders - cases and action for human rights defenders at risk
Major sporting events - highlighting human rights & business at the World Cup, Olympics and more
Special resources
- Running list of company policy statements on human rights
- Our publications: Regional & country briefings on business & human rights; thematic briefings on children, legal accountability, freedom of association, information & communications technology, and other topics; "On the Horizon: A practical bulletin on what is ahead"
- Text of business & human rights standards - quick links
- Business and human rights organizations
Make a donation
The Resource Centre is an independent non-profit organization. To avoid any perception of conflict of interest, the Centre does not accept donations from companies. For this reason donations from individuals are a critical source of funding.