Human Rights

A grainy video (download here) of private contractors shooting at civilian cars on Iraqi streets poses a difficult question: how should the military security industry be regulated? Do they have a role in peacekeeping or are they part of the problem? Read More

Oil giant Total is to compensate Burmese villagers who claimed they were used as forced labour during the building of a major gas pipeline. Read More

Federal regulators have reached an agreement with DuPont to settle allegations the company hid information about the dangers of a toxic chemical known as C8 used in the manufacture of Teflon. Read More

Oil was meant to bring hope and money to this sleepy fishing town in Cameroon, but Kribi's residents say they can barely make ends meet. Read More

Issuing a landmark ruling that opens the way for compensation claims against oil conglomerates, a court in Nigeria has declared the flaring of natural gas illegal. Read More

Vedanta, a fast growing British mining and aluminium production company founded by a billionaire expatriate Bombay businessman, threatens communities in India with environmental degradation and widespread pollution. Read More

Neighbors of a toxic mine site in Nevada want to know why an oil company responsible for its cleanup won't fence off nearly 6 square miles of mill tailings and ponds. Read More

Sytex, a subsidiary of Lockheed , the world's largest military contractor, has emerged as one of the biggest recruiters of private interrogators deployed to the United States-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read More

United Students against Sweatshops held a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, alleging that within the last several months, employees of a Coke bottler in Turkey were fired for joining a union. These workers protested and were allegedly beaten by police at the behest of Coke. Read More

Social audits of clothing factories in developing countries are failing to detect excessive and forced overtime, abusive treatment of workers and violations of freedom of association, says a report by the Clean Clothes Campaign, a coalition of trade unions and pressure groups, to be published today. Read More