A new report by Swedish NGO Swedwatch reveals that public funds used to procure hospital textiles are linked to exploitative labour practices in Pakistan’s textile industry. The findings expose major gaps in the EU’s public procurement rules and urge the European Commission to propose binding due diligence standards to prevent public spending from enabling human rights abuse.
A new report by Swedwatch highlights critical human rights risks associated with the global transition to renewable energy. The report reveals that human rights and environmental defenders face serious threats and reprisals in countries where renewable energy projects are being rapidly developed.
Swedwatch has been granted nearly 1.7 million SEK in project support from the Swedish Institute (SI) to work on two projects in Ukraine over the next two years. One project focuses on responsible business conduct, while the other aims to strengthen cooperation on corporate responsibility within the Eastern Partnership, in collaboration with partner organizations from Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia.
As the EU revises its Public Procurement Directive, Swedwatch urges policymakers to seize this opportunity to embed robust sustainability and human rights requirements into public procurement processes. In a new position paper Swedwatch highlights five recommendations that would strengthen the directive.
Swedwatch has been appointed as a member of the European Commission’s Stakeholder Expert Group on Public Procurement (SEGPP). This appointment comes at a pivotal moment as the Commission embarks on a revision of the EU’s 2014 Public Procurement Directive. Integration of mandatory social and environmental criteria into the Directive has the potential to significantly improve the lives of millio
A new report from Swedwatch highlights ongoing wage violations in Bangladesh’s garment sector, with workers depending on overtime pay to make ends meet, often falling into chronic debt. The EU's new corporate sustainability due diligence directive carries the potential to curb this trend, yet further actions are needed.
At COP29, the spotlight will be on climate finance. But deciding an ambitious target amount is only half of the solution. Climate finance must also be primarily grants and reach the most vulnerable countries and communities - especially Indigenous Peoples, and local communities on the frontlines.
-Without inclusive and rights-based support, the promise of climate finance remains hollow, says Lu
Together with over 150 organizations, Swedwatch has signed a statement sent to the World Bank president Ajay Banga demanding him to take action against the worsening situation for Cambodian human rights defenders in the country. The organizations attacked, CENTRAL and Equitable Cambodia, are important voices for democracy and human rights in the country and part of Swedwatch’s network.
-We dema
On the 14thof August Liberia launched its first National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, NAP BHR. Swedwatch and its partner organization Green Advocates International (GAI) have been working to integrate women from business impacted communities in the policy-process. Both partners welcome the adoption of the NAP BHR, and call for an inclusive implementation and monitoring process.
- I
The new Swedwatch report, based on interviews conducted at four farms in the Western Cape in South Africa by Swedwatch's project partner ILRIG (The International Labour Research and Information Group), reveals pressing human rights violations, including harassment and threats, and health issues resulting from pesticide exposure – and urges state-owned wine retailers such as Systembolaget to conduc
The EU directive on corporate responsibility for human rights and the environment (CSDDD), the responsibility of companies with operations in conflict areas, the importance of sustainable public procurement, and the numerous challenges in the textile industry were among the topics that Swedwatch addressed during 2023.
In Highlights 2023, presented digitally this year, Swedwatch highlights some
Concerned about Sweden's intention to vote against the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and misleading comments made by the minister in charge, Swedwatch, Fairtrade Sweden, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Oxfam Sweden and ForumCiv released a joint statement to set the record straight.
Download the full statement (in Swedish).
According to Brussels sources, Sweden
Liberia's new president Joseph Boakai takes office this week after a historic peaceful election in November 2023. He wants to tackle corruption and review land concessions in the mining industry. At the same time, the company Blue Carbon LLC from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for huge forest land concessions for carbon credits in Africa, including i
The 5th of September marks a historic day as the trial against two former executives of oil company Lundin Oil, today Orrön Energy, begins. The executives are accused of complicity in grave war crimes in Sudan from 1999 to 2003. Meanwhile, an OECD-led mediation process relating to the sale of major Lundin assets is ongoing in Norway, a process in which Swedwatch is taking part.
Ian Lundin
Today an updated version of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, adopted by OECD member countries, has been published. It has been over ten years since the last update, and the guidelines now place stronger requirements on companies on several areas, including the environment and climate. The new guidelines are welcomed by Swedwatch, which has contributed to provide input on their co
The responsibility of companies to uphold human rights when sponsoring big sporting events, expectations on duty bearers to safeguard the right to a healthy environment and the role of business in sustaining peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone, were among the topics researched by Swedwatch in 2022.
In Swedwatch´s annual report, Highlights 2022, Swedwatch presents some of its main activities and r
The Swedish engineering firm AFRY has announced its intention to withdraw from Myanmar, where it has been involved in controversial hydropower projects for over two decades. The undersigned organisations welcome the move to stop doing business with the military junta but remain deeply concerned about AFRY’s delayed response and failure to realise the gravity of its dealings with the Myanmar milita
Despite promises to make financial flows consistent with a low-carbon economy, EU member states continue to provide financial support to the fossil fuel industry through export credits. It is time that the EU Commission replaces its outdated policy with new and ambitious regulation, prohibiting export support to oil and gas, says Swedwatch in a policy paper published today.
-Export credit agenc
n a new policy paper, Swedwatch together with SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations), ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights), OECD Watch and ECCJ (European Coalition for Corporate Justice) call on EU lawmakers to include downstream due diligence obligations in the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), drawing on multiple case stud
One week before international negotiators meet at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris to discuss aligning export finance with international climate goals, Swedwatch together with more than 175 civil society organizations (CSOs) from over 45 countries have released a Joint Position calling on world leaders to end OECD export finance for oil and gas.
-While
