PRESS RLEASE
27th November 2019
London.UK. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) has launched a new web portal covering the Pacific region.
The new platform was announced at the Geneva-based UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in the session ‘Advancing the BHR Agenda in the Pacific’, with the aim to bring the broad range of Pacific business and human rights challenges into sharper focus, and amplify local and community voices from the region.
The Pacific is an intensely resource-rich region where human rights abuses by companies have historically flown under-the-radar. Greater focus on the Pacific is required to bring to light the true scale of business-related human rights abuse occurring in the region.
To build international visibility, the new portal curates the latest news on Pacific business and human rights, and includes case studies, research findings and tools for recording abuses. The portal also hosts an evolving series of interviews with activists working on business and human rights issues at the grassroots.
Partnered with Human Rights at Sea since 2017, BHRRC has been steadily collating a wide-range of maritime-related cases of abuse relating to business activities in the maritime environment ensuring that an international public record is maintained and transparency of business activities upheld.
Mauricio Lazala, Deputy Director, said: “The new platform is an essential step forward in the development of better regional transparency across all areas of business, as well as showcasing the work of local human rights defenders.”
To date, Human Rights at Sea has contributed alongside local partners, including Pacific Dialogue, five key investigative case studies to the exposure of abuses particularly in the Fijian-based fisheries sector.
- Pacific Fisheries Abuses: Testimony of Fijian Fishing Widows, Mother and Sister – July 2019
- Human Rights Abuse in Fijian Crewed Fisheries – The story of Josaia and Virisila Cama
- Fishing: A Family Perspective of deceased Fijian crewman who worked on Taiwanese Longliners
- The Killing of Fesaitu Raimkau: A Fijian Crewman in Panama
- Fisheries abuses and related deaths in the Pacific region
CEO, David Hammond, commented: “As a maritime partner to the Resource Centre we are delighted that this new civil society web platform will significantly enhance the collation and recording of human rights abuses in the Pacific region, thereby driving greater awareness and transparency.”
ENDS.