The Netherlands celebrates 60 years of bilateral investment treaties on 23 May. In 1963, the Netherlands concluded its first treaty with Tunisia. These treaties should play an important role in protecting foreign investments by Dutch…
Colombian victims of “blood coal” are in the Netherlands on Thursday 20 April to file a complaint against energy companies RWE, Vattenfall, Uniper, and Engie for their contribution to severe human rights violations surrounding coal…
Fintech – the use of technology to deliver financial services – is expanding globally. Millions of people now use financial technology applications and tools on a regular basis and access services. Yet, as SOMO’s new…
Fernanda Hopenhaym is the Co-Executive Director of the Project on Organizing, Development, Education and Research (PODER), an organisation in Latin America dedicated to corporate accountability. She is an expert on the impacts of corporations on…
Mozambique’s tax treaty network is depriving the country of hundreds of millions of US dollars in tax revenue each year, particularly through its treaties with Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Seventy percent of…
We are delighted to announce that SOMO is setting up a pro bono investigations unit to help activists counter corporate power! (Press Release English | Spanish | French | Dutch) The Counter, which will go live…
As the EU prepares to formally approve a new regulation to improve the sustainability of batteries used in electric vehicles, SOMO has published a powerful set of data visualisations showing the huge planned increase in…
Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, and Sinovac made an extraordinary USD 90 billion in profits on their COVID-19 vaccines and medicines in 2021 and 2022. SOMO’s new report Pharma’s Pandemic Profits shows that these enormous gains are…
New investigations by the BBC show that managers at two of the biggest tea farms in Kenya, James Finlay Kenya and Ekaterra, continue to demand sex from women in exchange for work. SOMO researcher Sanne…
Shell announced it made a record, eye-watering, $39.9 billion profits in 2022, as the world is facing multiple global crises. Analysis of Shell’s tax transparency reports over the past several years show that a substantial…
As Iran rages with protests for democracy and human rights, camera surveillance has become one of the primary tools used by Iran’s authoritarian regime to identify opponents and oppress the population. Against the backdrop of…
Leather tanneries in Bangladesh are well-known for their poor working conditions. Although it is clear that companies like Bristol, Scapino, and Wortmann (known for the brands Caprice and Marco Tozzi) source leather shoes from Bangladesh,…
The Dutch government will not have to pay damages to energy giants RWE and Uniper, a Dutch court in The Hague ruled today. The energy companies had filed claims of EUR 1.4 billion and EUR…
The European Commission’s proposal for a directive on corporate sustainability due diligence includes a dangerous overreliance on industry schemes, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and third-party auditing, a briefing paper by SOMO concludes. Publication / November 25, 2022…
Luxury brands including Armani, Versace, Michael Kors and Coach don’t provide key information on the origin of their leather products. An analysis carried out by SOMO shows that 35 out of 44 luxury brands examined…
The ‘Bill on Responsible and Sustainable International Business Conduct’, submitted to the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday by six Dutch political parties is set to be a game changer in the field of corporate accountability. SOMO…
Telenor and 474 civil society organizations from Myanmar, represented by SOMO, have reached a preliminary agreement in an ongoing mediation process related to the Norwegian telecoms operator’s rushed exit from Myanmar in 2021. The memorandum…
In a parliamentary debate on Tuesday, Dutch minister of Energy and Climate Rob Jetten spoke out in favour of exiting the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). In doing so, he responded to a broad call from…