Today, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) issued a briefing paper in which it calls on the international community to take urgent steps at national, regional and international levels to enhance standards and to ensure effective redress mechanisms are available for corporate-related human rights violations. The paper is based on five case studies, in Cambodia, Brazil, Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The assessment of the effect of corporate activities on the human rights of individuals and communities in these five locations identified shortcomings in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), significant difficulties arising with their implementation, and protection gaps which need to be closed.

On Thursday 20 February Al-Haq attended the Open Consultation on the development of States’ (NAPs) Plans on Business and Human Rights, organised bythe Working Group on Business and Human Rights (the Working Group) in Geneva. The consultation was entitled "The strategic elements of National Action Plans in the implementation of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights".

Al-Haq welcomes the decision by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance to exclude Israeli firms Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus from its Government Pension Fund Global, one of the world’s largest funds. The Ministry of Finance received a recommendation from the Council on Ethics on 1 November 2013 that it exclude the two firms "due to contribution to serious violations of individual rights in war or conflict through the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem." Al-Haq particularly commends the Ministry of Finance for basing its decision on the violations of rights caused by the settlement enterprise.