Startseite: What's New
The copy & paste method
The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) offers a unique opportunity to prevent human rights violations and environmental damage in value chains of European companies and to finally give those affected a real chance to claim compensation. In February 2022, the EU Commission presented a proposal for a corresponding directive. It goes beyond the German Supply Chain Act in several respects. However, it also contains numerous loopholes, largely as a result of pressure from business lobby groups. In May 2022, the German “Initiative Lieferkettengesetz” and further European [...]
No more sideshow
Since 2014, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in Geneva has been negotiating an internationally binding agreement on business and human rights – also known as the UN Treaty. From October 24–28, 2022, the intergovernmental working group on a legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (OEIGWG) met for the eighth time. The countries of the global South as well as the major industrialized nations were present at the meeting. New informal proposals by the Ecuadorian Chair caused initial confusion in the [...]
Interest rate turnaround
Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, development finance has operated under conditions of low interest rates and high liquidity in global financial markets. This has changed with the recent turnaround in interest rates. This briefing paper describes the current trends, analyzes the implications for financing sustainable development in the Global South, and formulates policy recommendations on how countries in the Global South and their financing partners in the North can respond to the interest rate increases.
We Get the UN We Fund, Not the UN We Need
On 11 March 2022 at United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York City, Secretary-General António Guterres addressed an audience of Member States, UN staff and other stakeholders at the final consultation meeting on his proposed Our Common Agenda. He urged Member States: “The process surrounding Our Common Agenda is an opportunity to recommit to our fundamental enduring principles while overhauling the practices of multilateralism for a new age.” The report details this new multilateralism to be “an inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism.”
This concept of a networked [...]
