OECD Watch Quarterly Case Update March 2012

Quarterly Case Update of OECD Guidelines Cases Filed by NGOs

The highlights of this Quarterly Case Update include new OECD Guidelines complaints filed against Centerra Gold for human rights and environmental violations in Mongolia and Shell for environmental and human rights problems in the Niger Delta. The Norwegian NCP has accepted a complaint against Sjovik for undermining the Sahrawi peoples right to self-determination in its fishing operations and rejected cases against Norwegian Church Aid alleging poor health conditions its refugee camps in Kosovo and Statoil for exploiting oil sands in Canada and thereby contributing to Canada's violation of international obligations to reduce GHG emissions. Additionally The LEAD Group files complaints with the US and UK NCPs against Innospec, Xstrata, and TetraBOOST for alleged environmental breaches associated with the production of leaded gasoline. Specific Instances recently concluded with an agreement between the parties include the complaint against Nidera regarding human rights issues at Argentine corn field operations, several cases regarding child labour and cotton trading in Uzbekistan, and the case against Cermaq for its salmon farming practices. The Norwegian NCP furthermore issued a final statement in the Intex Philippines nickel mining case determining Intex has not acted in accordance with the OECD Guidelines. read more less