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Business and Human Rights: a resource website

 

   Racial & ethnic groups   

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NEW (recent additions to this section; top item is most recent addition)
Drug industry debates duty to society -...To what extent should pharmaceutical companies be accountable for including minorities in their studies of new medicines? What issues should be considered in balancing the enforcement of patents and the availability of life-saving drugs? These questions and more arose at the opening day of a conference examining the "Grand Bargain" between society and the drug industry (Lewis Krauskopf, NorthJersey.com, 22 Apr. 2003)

Blacks join to dump harmful waste sites [USA] - They say a form of 'racism' puts facilities that process hazardous materials in their communities. -...Like Baker, citizens in many poor, black communities around Alabama and the South in recent years have fought companies that have located pollution-spewing industrial plants, hazardous landfills and waste incinerators near homes and schools. Known as "environmental racism," the practice of locating such toxic operations near politically powerless blacks has been stymied by emerging citizen groups. [refers to lawsuits against chemical plant in Anniston, Alabama - defendants were Monsanto, Solutia, Pharmacia; also refers to Waste Management Inc, Shintech Inc] (Dave Bryan, Associated Press, 6 Apr. 2003)

Eight killed, including ChevronTexaco worker, as violence escalates in oil-rich Niger Delta [Nigeria] - Ethnic clashes in an oil-rich area of Nigeria have left eight people dead, including an employee of ChevronTexaco, officials said Tuesday...The Ijaws...accuse Nigeria and multinational companies of unfairly favoring smaller, rival tribes with lucrative contracts and development projects. (Dulue Mbachu, Associated Press, 19 Mar. 2003)

Websites:

The Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment

Other materials:

2003:

Drug industry debates duty to society -...To what extent should pharmaceutical companies be accountable for including minorities in their studies of new medicines? What issues should be considered in balancing the enforcement of patents and the availability of life-saving drugs? These questions and more arose at the opening day of a conference examining the "Grand Bargain" between society and the drug industry (Lewis Krauskopf, NorthJersey.com, 22 Apr. 2003)

Blacks join to dump harmful waste sites [USA] - They say a form of 'racism' puts facilities that process hazardous materials in their communities. -...Like Baker, citizens in many poor, black communities around Alabama and the South in recent years have fought companies that have located pollution-spewing industrial plants, hazardous landfills and waste incinerators near homes and schools. Known as "environmental racism," the practice of locating such toxic operations near politically powerless blacks has been stymied by emerging citizen groups. [refers to lawsuits against chemical plant in Anniston, Alabama - defendants were Monsanto, Solutia, Pharmacia; also refers to Waste Management Inc, Shintech Inc] (Dave Bryan, Associated Press, 6 Apr. 2003)

Eight killed, including ChevronTexaco worker, as violence escalates in oil-rich Niger Delta [Nigeria] - Ethnic clashes in an oil-rich area of Nigeria have left eight people dead, including an employee of ChevronTexaco, officials said Tuesday...The Ijaws...accuse Nigeria and multinational companies of unfairly favoring smaller, rival tribes with lucrative contracts and development projects. (Dulue Mbachu, Associated Press, 19 Mar. 2003)

2002:

Blacks hurt more by power plant pollution - US study - Blacks are more likely than whites to live near areas polluted by power plants and suffer adverse health consequences as a result, civil rights and environmental activists said yesterday. (Karen Jacobs, Reuters, 24 Oct. 2002)

Equity at work must be tackled - Omam [Old Mutual Asset Managers] [South Africa] - Eight years after the end of apartheid rule, the economy is still dominated by whites and the government is pushing companies to do more to increase their proportion of black shareholders and managers. (Reuters, 23 Oct. 2002)

Current List of Annual Company Meeting Statements Made by Socially Responsible Shareholders [includes Alltel - Sexual Orientation Discrimination; Eastman Chemical Company - Health Risks of Cigarette Filters; Gannett - American Indians / Diversity Reporting; Hasbro - Sweatshops] (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 10 Sep. 2002)

Nursing home fires employee for speaking Spanish on the job [USA] -...Courts have issued mixed rulings about the legality of such rules. (Associated Press, 20 Aug. 2002)

Spanish Broadcasters Get Paid Less [USA] - Spanish-language radio and TV broadcasters earn significantly less than their counterparts at English-language stations and receive inferior health and retirement benefits, a new study found...Univision and Telemundo, the companies which dominate the Spanish-language broadcasting industry, bore the brunt of criticism (Lynn Elber, AP, 14 Aug. 2002)

Best companies for minorities [USA] - Diversity Leaders -...these companies have not abandoned their commitment to hiring, promoting, and retaining talented employees of all races [lists the 50 top companies; top 10: Fannie Mae, Sempra Energy, Advantica, SBC Communications, McDonald's, PNM Resources, Southern California Edison, United States Postal Service, Freddie Mac, BellSouth] (Fortune, 8 July 2002)

Ethnic workers struggle to reach the top [UK] - Few black and Asian workers are being appointed as senior managers in the UK, according to new research. A survey of nearly three million people found that - of those at senior board level - only 44 were ethnic minorities. This represents just 3.4% of senior managers. There were no black or other ethnic minority chief executives in the companies surveyed. (BBC News, 20 June 2002)

The Strategic Logic of Diversity -...If we want to recruit and retain the best women we won't succeed if we tolerate what one commentator has described as "a golf club culture" which can implicitly, if not explicitly, exclude women and sometimes minorities as well. If we want to be an employer of the most able people who happen to be gay or lesbian, we won't succeed unless we offer equal benefits for partners in same sex relationships. (Lord Browne, Group Chief Executive of  BP, keynote speech at the Women in Leadership conference [Berlin], 19 June 2002)