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Sources for human rights risk and impact concerns – CAC 40 (France)

D 4 décembre 2014     H 05:36     A     C 0 messages


Accor – Bénin

Sector : Other (Hotels)

Voluntary Initiatives Identified : UN Global Compact (since 18 June 2003)

December 2012

French National Contact Point

ACCOR V International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Unions
http://www.tuacoecdmneguidelines.org/CaseDescription.asp?id=142
UF filed a complaint with the French NCP alleging that ACCOR had violated the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining at Novotels in Canada and Benin. The complaint included claims that, inter alia, the company refused to bargain collectively and that union supporters suffered reprisals including loss of hours/shifts, discipline and termination. UF further alleged clear and public encouragement by management to vote against the union and dissemination of information in mandatory meetings suggesting that job security might be placed at risk by a union. The French National Contact Point is reported to have found Accor to have violated the OECD Guidelines by refusing to engage in good faith negotiations with the
recognised union at the Novotel in Benin.

Alstom – Soudan

November 2012
Conflict Risk Network

Sudan Company Report 2012, Quarter 4 (Report)
http://crn.genocideintervention.net/files/Alstom%20Q4%202012.pdf

Report discussing Alstom activities in Sudan in relation to large-scale power generation. It states that Alstom has provided essential components to the Merowe hydroelectric dam project, the impacts of which are alleged to be on-going and at risk of exacerbating or generating instability. The report refers to conflicts with the Manasir tribe regarding resettlement and compensation and claims that protests over resettlement, compensation and displacement have led to clashes in which civilians have been killed and arrested. The report claims that during the dam’s construction the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing called upon Alstom (amongst other companies) to halt its activities until a full and impartial assessment of the impact on the human rights of the local population could be completed. Alstom is said to have responded that it had not done anything directly to promote and protect human rights because the Group is employed by Sudan’s Dam
Implementation Unit who is ultimately responsible for such issues.

ArcelorMittal – Libéria

June 2010
Global Action on ArcelorMittal, Sustainable Development Institute Liberia, and others
Working for development ? ArcelorMittal’s mining operations in Liberia (Report)
http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/publications/FoEE_Working_for_development_0610.pdf

Report raising critical questions about ArcelorMittal’s complicity in the misuse of the first tranche of approximately US$4.7 million County Social Development Fund in Liberia. It claims that there are widespread reports of misappropriation and misuse of the fund but that none of those implicated in the alleged misuse of money from the fund have been investigated or punished. It claims that ArcelorMittal must engage with its responsibilities in this regard by ensuring transparency and supporting good governance. The report alleges that the company’s donation of 100 pick-up trucks that ended up with legislators was in breach
of the combating bribery section of the OECD guidelines.

ArcelorMittal - Afrique du Sud

September 2009

Ground Work & European Coalition for Corporate Justice
Failure to Communicate : A Case Study of Steel Conglomerate ArcelorMittal in South Africa (Report)
http://www.corporatejustice.org/IMG/pdf/ECCJ_SouthAfricaPamphlet_LOWRES_A4.pdf

Report alleging that ArcelorMittal has engaged in longstanding environmental pollution as a result of its operations at ArcelorMittal mines in South Africa. The company is alleged to be actively withholding information that would help the public and civil society to assess attempts by the company to clean up its pollution, and whether the company’s plans for reducing environmental damage in the future will be effective. The company is also subject to claims that it retrenched workers on an undertaking of later re-employment and failed to re-employ them. It is also allged to have caused displacement through the pollution of groundwater, and to have constructed fences to prevent grazing on formerly common land.

BNP-Paribas Soudan

September 2010

Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (SOMO)
Investing Responsibly : A financial puzzle
 The Limited Scope of Sustainable Asset Management (Report)
http://business-humanrights.org/en/pdf-investing-responsibly-a-financial-puzzle-the-limited-scope-of-sustainable-asset-management

Report assessing the scope of the CSR policies among a selection of European banks, including BNP Paribas, and claiming that these policies have serious limitations. Amongst the CSR concerns raised is BNP Paribas’ ownership or management of US$48.3 million in shares of PetroChina, a company claimed to be a key player in Sudan’s oil industry which is alleged to provide the funds that the government of Sudan needs to continue the genocide in Darfur. PetroChina is already said to have been blacklisted by pension funds, including PFZW (formerly PGGM) in the Netherlands and TIAA CREF in the US, because of its links to the Sudanese government. The report claims that BNP Paribas is failing to translate its CSR policies on relevant sectors and themes to its asset management activities
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June 2009
Fairfin
Harmful investments by BNP Paribas
(Briefing)
http://www.fairfin.be/en/files/en/documents/uploads/profiel_bnp%20paribas_en-591.

BNP-Paribas

April 2009

Tax Justice Network
Where on earth are you ?
(Report)
http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/45940CCBd01.pdf

Report claiming that BNP Paribas is France’s biggest user of tax havens and highlighting that such havens obscure transparency surrounding the company’s operations and its contribution to the countries in which it operates. Whilst such activities are not illegal they are relevant to tax revenues and therefore the provision of public services to secure human right.

BNP-Paribas
March 2007
Les Amis de la Terre
French banks, Fossil banks ?
(Report)
http://www.banktrack.org/manage/ems_files/download/french_banks_fossil_banks_/summary_french_banks_fossil_banks_march_07.pdf

Report alleging that BNP Paribas is the bank with the most clients in the international oil, gas and coal production sector of the 33 companies researched in the report, with the highest financing of loans and underwriting. The bank is said to be involved in 10 contentious projects analysed by the authors. The UN has recognised the significant implications of climate change for human rights enjoyment worldwide

Bouyghes – Mali

September 2007

International Federation for Human Rights
Mali : Mining and Human rights
(Report)
http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/mali477ang2007.pdf

Report referring to labour rights violations alleged to have occurred at the Morila mine excavated by Bouygues subsidiary, Somadex, and which are said to have occasioned collective action on the part of Somadex workers. The report also expresses concern about the relationship between Somadex and the local gendarmerie. The companies investigated in the report are said to be trying to adopt measures in response to criticism

Crédit Agricole

November 2011

urgewald, groundWork, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and BankTrack
Bankrolling Climate Change : A Look into the Portfolios of the World’s Largest Banks
(Report)
http://www.banktrack.org/download/bankrolling_climate_change/climatekillerbanks_final_0.pdf

Report ranking Credit Agricole as one of the top 20 banks funding CO2 emissions. The UN has recognised the significant implications of climate change for human rights enjoyment worldwide.
 December 2010 Fairfin
‘Update Bank Secrets’ (Press)
http://www.fairfin.be/en/whatsnew/news/2010/12/update-banksecrets
Bank Secrets update alleging that Crédit Agricole approved a € 63,7 million loan to Eskom in South Africa, for the construction of the gigantic Medupi coal power plant, which green campaigners are concerned will have heavy impacts on the climate and the local environment, and will not improve access to electricity for South African people.

EADS - Libye

May 2011

Campagne tegen Wapenhandel
European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company EADS : European technology arming the world
(Report)
http://www.stopwapenhandel.org/sites/stopwapenhandel.org/files/EADS2011_0.pdf

Report alleging that EADS profits from loopholes in the European arms export regulations and sells to military customers all over the world, with little regard for human rights, repression and threat of war. Amongst other things, the company is alleged to have armed all three parties to the Libyan conflict ; sold arms to dictatorial regimes based on harsh repression, human rights abuses and severe censorship ; produce controversial weapons such as nuclear weapons and drones ; and been accused of
corruption on numerous occasions.

FRANCE TELECOM (now ORANGE) - Etiopie

June 2012

Internet sans Frontières
‘When France Telecom Helps To Monitor Citizens Of An Authoritarian Regime’ (Press)
http://www.internetsansfrontieres.org/When-France-Telecom-Helps-To-Monitor-Citizens-Of-An-Authoritarian-Regime_a434.html
KO : http://www.internetsansfrontieres.com/When-France-Telecom-Helps-To-Monitor-Citizens-Of-An-Authoritarian-Regime_a434.html

Article claiming that France Telecom, which took over the management of Ethiopia’s communications company Ethio Telecom in 2010, is alleged to have helped the authoritarian Ethiopian government to implement general surveillance technology called Deep Packet Inspection. The article expresses concerns about the impact of this on freedom of expression in the country, highlighting that Deep Packet Inspection was used in Gaddafi’s Libya, to monitor activists who were organising the uprising.

FRANCE TELECOM (now ORANGE) - Tunisie

March 2011

IT News Africa
‘France Telecom Denies Wrongdoing In Tunisia’ (Press)
http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2011/03/france-telecom-denies-wrongdoing-in-tunisia/
rticle claiming that a French website (OWNI) has accused France Telecom of corruption in order to secure a share in Tunisia’s third mobile operating license, alleging that although Orange paid a US$180 million license fee, it did not go to the government as planned, but was invested in a company owned by a daughter of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and her husband Marwan Mabrouk. France Telecom has denied the allegation.

GDF SUEZ – Afrique du sud

Sector : Utilities
Voluntary Initiatives Identified :
UN Global Compact (since 26 July 2000).
January 2012
Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (SOMO)
The Black Box : Obscurity and Transparency in the Dutch Coal Supply Chain (Report)
http://somo.nl/publications-en/Publication_3737/at_download/fullfile

Report concerned about revelations of human rights abuses, and poor social and environmental conditions at coal mines in Colombia and South Africa, claiming that lack of transparency about the origin of coal has allowed electricity companies sourcing irresponsibly mined coal to avoid public pressure. It claims that low supply chain transparency suggests that these companies are out of line with leading international standards. It claims that GDF Suez does not make public any information about the quantities or the origins (either countries or mines or mining companies) of the coal it uses at the overall company level, nor did it provide this information when requested by SOMO, though it does provide detailed information about the origin of the coal used in its Gelderland power station in the Netherlands, which primarily sources coal from Colombia and South Africa. Moreover, GDF Suez as a company is further claimed to have imported 322,809 tonnes of coal from Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia

SAFRAN

Sector : Aerospace, Defence & Security
Voluntary Initiatives Identified :
UN Global Compact (since 8 January 2014)
September 2012
Les Echos
‘Safran condamné pour corruption active’ (Press)
http://www.lesechos.fr/05/09/2012/lesechos.fr/0202249707571_safran-condamne-pour-corruption-active.htm

Article claiming that a court in Paris ordered Safran to pay a 500,000 Euro fine for charges that it endorsed bribery and corruption in Nigeria. The allegations related to a period between 2000 and 2003, during which the company was contracted to manufacture 70 million ID cards in Nigeria. Safran has stated it will appeal. Company response available from arti

TECHNIP – Nigéria
Sector : Steel, Oil & Gas

Voluntary Initiatives Identified :
UN Global Compact (since 14 October 2002).

February 2013

The FCPA Blog
‘Paris court sentences two former Technip execs for Nigeria
bribes’ (Press)
http://fcpablog.squarespace.com/blog/2013/2/1/paris-court-sentences-two-former-technip-execs-for-nigeria-b.html#

Article claiming that a Paris court has handed two former Technip executives light fines for their role in a multi- million dollar bribery scheme to win contracts for development of the Bonny Island gas facility in the eastern Niger delta during the regime of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha in mid-1990s. TSKJ, a consortium of Technip, is alleged to have paid bribes to Nigerian officials over a ten-year period to secure a construction contract worth $6 billion. The defendants were fined €10,000 and €5,000 respectively.

June 2010

US Securities and Exchange Commission‘Technip to Pay $338 Million to Settle SEC and DOJ Charges ; Brings Total Sanctions Against Joint Venture Partners to $917
Million’ (Press Release)
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-110.htm
Press release stating that Technip has agreed a settlement for allegations of multiple violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the course of its conduct as part of a four-company joint venture that bribed Nigerian government officials over a 10-year period in order to win construction contracts, as well as engaging in book, record and internal controls violations related to the bribery. The bribes are alleged to have been paid to officials in Nigeria’s executive branch as well as state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.Technip is reported to have agreed to pay a $240 million criminal penalty in separate criminal proceedings brought by the US Department of Justice, as well as $98 million to settle the SEC’s charges and deprive the company of its ill-gotten gains.

TOTAL - Ouganda

March 2013

Oil in Uganda

‘Compensation remains thorny issue in oil regions’ (Press)
http://www.oilinuganda.org/features/compensation-remains-thorny-issue-in-oil-regions.html#more-2633

Article alleging that since Total E&P began exploring in the area of Panyimur fishing village on the shores of Lake Albert in Nebbi District, Uganda, many gardens and homesteads have been destroyed in the process of surveying, building access roads and constructing oil well pads. Locals are said to complain that progress towards compensating them for land they will have to give up has been painfully slow, inadequate and has meanwhile left them without any source of subsistence.

TOTAL – Sahara Occidental

December 2012

Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRS)
‘WSRW asks Total to leave Western Sahara’ (Letter)
http://www.wsrw.org/a105x2441

WSRW letter to Total referring to Total’s entry into an oil reconnaissance and evaluation licence for a block in the coastal waters of Western Sahara, part of which is still illegally occupied by Morocco. The letter alleges Total signed a new reconnaissance licence in respect of the territory secretly in 2011 and undertook seismic studies in 2012, which WSRW states violates the principles detailed in a 2002 legal opinion by UN Legal Counsel on the legality of exploration contracts in Western Sahara. This opinion is said to conclude that further exploration and exploitation activities in disregard of the interests and wishes of the people of Western Sahara would be in violation of international law principles. The letter alleges that Total has done nothing to consult any of the legitimate stakeholders in the territory on these proposed activities. WSRW state their belief that signing such an agreement is a direct violation of the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination, in contradiction of both the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines and the UN Global Compact, undermining the UN
peace process in the region. Company response available from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre website

Total - Nigéria

August 2012

Platform London
Dirty Work : Shell’s security spending in Nigeria and beyond
(Briefing)
http://platformlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Dirty-work-Shell’s-security-spending-in-Nigeria-and-beyond-Platform-August-2012.pdf

Report alleging that Total was a contributor to Shell’s security costs for its Bonny LNG joint venture activities. The report claims that Shell’s expenditure often formed part of regular payments to government forces in Nigeria during a period of intense conflict in the oil producing Niger Delta. Whilst the report focuses on Shell it states that the same issues and recommendations apply to other oil companies operating in Nigeria. The report addresses the wider social impacts of security spending in the
region and links the funding of Nigerian armed forces to the perpetration of human rights abuses.

Total Madagascar

December 2011 Heinrich Boll Stiftung and Friends of the Earth Europe Locking up the Future : Unconventional Oil in Africa
(Report)
http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/publications/FoEE_Locking_up_the_future_HBS_1111.pdf

Report claiming that under the terms of the production sharing contracts between Total and Madagascar, Madagascar is set to receive just 4% of the oil revenue derived from tar sands extraction projects after a proposed thirty-year commercial exploitation. It claims that there has been reluctance on the part of Total and other corporate and state actors to provide information and documentation for the project to civil society actors and that there are concerns about the fact that the local the population is extremely vulnerable and has little capacity or infrastructure to understand, negotiate or protect their rights.

Total – Nigéria

November 2011
Bankwatch Network, Corner House, Platform and others
The reality behind EU “energy security” : the case of Nigeria
(Report)
http://platformlondon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/energy-security-nigeria1.pdf

Report addressing, inter alia, Total’s alleged impact on the Egi community of 350,000 people in 17 villages in River State, Nigeria. It claims that the history of the relationship between Total and the Egi communities has been riven with conflict. The report alleges that repressive state actions have been directed at protesters against the company and that environmental pollution has compromised village livelihoods (dependent on fishing and farming) without bringing development. Total is alleged to have evicted villagers from their land by force after they refused to give it up in 2006, leaving them with no land to cultivate and no compensation. The report claims that Total operates in a highly divisive environment to which it has contributed by favouring some Egi groups over others, which has helped to divide the community and cause conflict.

Sources

RapportThe Adverse Human Rights Risks and Impacts of European Companies : Getting a glimpse of the picture (PDF - 309.7 kb)
http://www.corporatejustice.org/IMG/pdf/ahrri_report_final-2.pdf

Annexes

http://www.corporatejustice.org/IMG/pdf/ahrri_annexes_final-2.pdf

p60

Annex B : Sources for human rights risk and impact concerns – CAC 40 (France)