RULES FOR BUSINESS RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE

The fact sheet advocates for a binding international treaty to regulate transnational corporations (TNCs), highlighting the inadequacy of voluntary corporate policies. It presents evidence of corporate-linked harms, including deforestation and forest fires in Indonesia caused by palm oil and paper companies, hazardous shipbreaking practices in Bangladesh, water rights violations by Mekorot in Palestine, and a chemical disaster in South Korea involving Reckitt Benckiser's humidifier sterilisers. The document emphasizes that TNCs often operate across jurisdictions to escape accountability, necessitating a legal framework supported by the UN Human Rights Council and various global governments.

• Voluntary corporate policies are insufficient to prevent environmental destruction, as evidenced by forest fires in Indonesia in 2015 that destroyed over 3 million hectares of land and caused over 500,000 respiratory diseases, despite companies like Bumitama and Wilmar International having voluntary policies against deforestation.
• The shipbreaking industry in South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, causes severe environmental pollution through the leaching of asbestos and PCBs and results in high mortality rates, with approximately 20% of workers estimated to be children under 15.
• In the Palestine occupied territories, the company Mekorot is accused of violating human rights by refusing water supply to some Palestinian communities and partnering with the Israeli military to destroy water supplies, including the demolition of 60 water and sanitation structures in 2012.
• Between 2001 and 2011, the British company Reckitt Benckiser sold 453,000 bottles of a humidifier steriliser containing the hazardous chemical PHMG in South Korea, leading to 920 deaths and over 4,000 reported medical cases.
• A historic UN process began in 2014 at the Human Rights Council to create binding rules for businesses to address the gap in international law where corporations escape accountability by operating across different national jurisdictions.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2016). RULES FOR BUSINESS RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/foe-corp-treaty-bookletASIA-WEB.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. RULES FOR BUSINESS RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE. 2016. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/foe-corp-treaty-bookletASIA-WEB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=RULES FOR BUSINESS RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE |date=2016 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/foe-corp-treaty-bookletASIA-WEB.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternational2016rules, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{RULES FOR BUSINESS RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2016}, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/foe-corp-treaty-bookletASIA-WEB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }