The Russian war in Ukraine has, in addition to the COVID-19 global pandemic, once again highlighted the need for corporate human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) regulation, such as the proposed EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
After the start of the Russian invasion, many European companies struggled with the challenges of conducting business in the region responsibly. Issues arose in relation to the provision of essential services to affected people; engagment with employees on safety, protective measures, salaries and relocations; alongside highly-publicised questions over whether, when and how to responsibly exit the Russian and Belarussian markets. (As of early June 2022, almost 1000 companies have announced their withdrawal from Russia).
The type of business relationships European companies maintained in Russia prior to the war (the provision of technology services to the Russian military, for example); how companies reacted immediately after the invasion; and how they continue to react is significant and, in many cases, has been costly to affected persons as well as companies themselves.
The scale and divergent nature of these reactions show the urgent need for crosssectoral HREDD obligations in order to ensure common standards of responsible business conduct and private sector preparedness in the face of future crises.
To start the New Year with an interesting and thought-provoking event, Frank Bold and ClientEarth organised a screening of This Changes Everything, a documentary based on Naomi Klein’s international non-fiction bestseller.
In his political guidelines for the new EU Commission, President Juncker pledged to create a European Capital Markets Union (CMU) to increase non-bank financing of the European economy and further integrate capital markets. In this context, the EU Commission launched a public consultation in February 2015.
Frank Bold co-organised the screening of the documentary “A Dangerous Game” as part of the One World Film Festival, the largest human rights film festival in the world. Organised by the NGO People in Need, it represents a major event in the Czech Republic involving 33 cities and attracting more than 100.000 viewers every year.