For Immediate Release: Thursday, October 2, 2014
Contact: Meredith MacKenzie, West End Strategy Team, meredith@westendstrategy.com, (202) 427-2007
NEW YORK - The directors of the Center for Business and Human Rights at the New York University Stern School of Business, Michael Posner and Sarah Labowitz responded to the Obama administration's announcement that it would begin the process of writing a national action plan to examine the impact of business on global human rights. In a letter to President Obama, the authors urged the administration to look closely at certain sectors that are at particularly high risk for human rights violations including information technology, private security contracting and extractives and mining. He also called for the U.S. Agency on International Development (USAID) to consider its role in assisting U.S. companies looking to protect human rights in the global supply chain. The full text of the letter is available below.
The NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights is working to challenge and empower companies and future business leaders to make practical progress on human rights. In its first year the Center convened U.S. companies and manufacturing industry leaders from Bangladesh to discuss persistent safety problems in the wake of one of the deadliest industrial disasters in history. The Center recently began a research project into the human rights risks and responsibilities of technology companies operating in markets with repressive rights records and the collection and treatment of individuals' data by those same companies.
[ read the letter ]
The NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights is the first center to focus on human rights at a business school. To speak with Michael Posner or Sarah Labowitz or learn more about the center learn more about the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights please contact Meredith MacKenzie, meredith@westendstrategy.com