As a part of our fight to get corporations out of the government, The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable hosted its first ever Invisible DC Block Party on June 8th at the National Mall in Washington D.C.

Today, U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) introduced the SLAPP Protection Act, landmark legislation that would protect free speech and uphold the integrity of our courts.

ICAR and HUA comment to express support for the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) proposal to amend the definition of illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing to include fishing activities beyond national jurisdiction that involve the use of forced labor.

The recent leak of more than 120,000 confidential files from Uber—which exposed the tech giant’s secret lobbying and powerful government alliances—has drawn significant public attention to the power, and problem, of corporate influence over governments and public officials around the globe.

On May 24, 2022, Swiss-based commodities firm Glencore pleaded guilty to bribery, corruption, and market manipulation, paying $1.1 billion in fines and forfeitures to the U.S. government to settle the charges.

ICAR Applauds the Biden Administration’s Statement on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Forced Labor While Encouraging Broader Data Collection and Analysis

In response to the government’s call for stakeholder input, ICAR worked with partners to develop and finalize an extensive list of concrete policy recommendations for the U.S. government to consider in shaping its commitments in the updated NAP.

ICAR applauds Senators Gillibrand, Booker, Warren, and Sanders for the introduction of The Fashioning Accountability and Building Real Institutional Change (FABRIC) Act. Following the lead of California’s Garment Worker Protection Act (or SB62), if passed, the FABRIC Act would hold brands and retailers jointly and severally liable for wage theft and would eliminate piece rate compensation for garment workers in the United States.

We call on the State Department to engage constructively in the existing UN open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (the ‘IGWG’).

April 24 marked nine years since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Just the day before, dangerous structural cracks were discovered in the building and although the stores in the lower floors of the building closed immediately, the garment factories forced their workers to return to work the next day. That day the building collapsed, killing at least 1,132 people and injuring more than 2,500.

The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) applauds Senators Richard Durban and Sherrod Brown for introducing the Alien Tort Statute Clarification Act (ATSCA). If passed, the bill would clarify that the ATS applies to any defendants with personal jurisdiction in the United States, regardless of where the activity in question took place.

Over the next several months, ICAR will facilitate the development of a Corporate Accountability Agenda that will aim to detail the business and human rights movement’s legislative goals and serve as a guidepost for community advocacy.

In the Bangladeshi garment factories, 80% of workers “have experienced or witnessed sexual violence and harassment at work.” Further, 10% of women surveyed said, “they were currently being subjected to sexual harassment, molestation, and assault in the workplace.” Unfortunately, stories abound of women who were sexually assaulted or harassed while working at a Bangladeshi garment factory.

Garment workers working in factories in Bangladesh that supply to international fashion brands face systematic wage theft, including through (1) punishments for late arrival or absence from work, regardless of the reason, (2) receiving wages below the national minimum wage, (3) cancellation of bonuses, and (4) unfair dismissals due to Covid-19 or involvement in union activity. In 2020, Garment workers in Bangladesh reported a 27% overall theft of wages.

In the Bangladeshi garment factories, workers are used to management using intimidation and violence in the workplace. Due to high production demands, workers are prevented from taking restroom breaks, drinking water, leaving at reasonable hours, getting leave for medical emergencies, and much more. Additionally, the wages are so low they are “effectively trapped in abusive conditions,” while also being subjected to sexual harassment and abuse.

To support enforcement of Section 307 of the Tariff Act and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), ICAR urges the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) to require companies that import goods into the United States to accurately trace their supply chains for those goods and report comprehensive supply chain information to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as a condition of entry.

In October 2021, Reuters reported that U.S. remote control maker Universal Electronics Inc (UEI), took part in an agreement with Xinjiang authorities for the transport of Uyghurs to work in their plant in southern China. While many global corporations, including American companies and many others which trade on the United States stock exchange, are reportedly linked Uyghur forced labor through their supply chains, this is the first confirmed instance of an American corporation directly employing and transporting Uyghur forced laborers in China from Xinjiang.

A new report by the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) finds that leveraging existing conservation tools to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing increases the U.S. government’s ability to stop goods produced by forced labor from entering our ports.

On January 7, Assemblywoman Dr. Anna R. Kelles and State Senator Alessandra Biaggi introduced the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act (A8352/S7428) into the New York State legislature. Although the bill, termed the New York Fashion Law, rightly aims to improve transparency surrounding human rights practices in the fashion industry, it falls short of driving real accountability.

As part of ICAR’s Capitol, Inc. Campaign, four new augmented reality art pieces will be unveiled today on iconic Washington landmarks including the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, highlighting corporate and government abuse of people and the planet.