Banks| Policies| Dodgy Deals| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2022-06-02 00:00:00
GFANZ must tighten the screw on fossil fuel expansion
2022-05-19 00:00:00
BNP Paribas and Société Générale: stop financing climate destruction and human rights abuses
2022-05-04 00:00:00
Barclays is big on beef and burning
2022-05-04 00:00:00
Standard Chartered’s 2022 AGM dominated by shareholder alarm over fossil financing
2022-05-20 15:14:47
Seven financiers abandon TotalEnergies' EACOP pipeline in a week
2021-12-16 13:33:02
Cambo oil field "paused" following pressure on Shell & banks
2021-12-16 13:04:42
Equator Principles improve transparency after BankTrack shows the way
2021-11-02 11:03:26
ANZ launches human rights grievance mechanism in a first for the global banking sector
Connect
2022-04-05 00:00:00
The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark Asia
2022-03-30 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2022
2022-03-08 00:00:00
BankTrack Annual Report 2021
2022-03-03 00:00:00
Locked out of a Just Transition: fossil fuel financing in Africa
2021-12-14 00:00:00
Actions speak louder: Assessing bank responses to human rights violations
2021-10-26 00:00:00
Equator Compliant Climate Destruction: How banks finance fossil fuels under the Equator Principles
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Home › News
Berne Declaration reveals: Swiss banks cooperate with human rights abusers
Start
Banks

By: Berne Declaration
2010-04-15
Zürich

Contact:

 

Andreas Missbach, Berne Declaration, Private Finance Programme, +41 44 277 70 07    

 


Share this page:

Go to:
Start
Related Banks

Forced labour in Uzbekistan, forced displacement in Papua-New Guinea, toxic waste in Côte d'Ivoire: time and again, Credit Suisse und UBS are seen cooperating with companies accused of human rights abuses. The Berne Declaration (BD) urges Switzerland's largest banks to develop binding human rights standards and to make them accessible to the public.  

The BD investigated the financial links between the two largest Swiss banks and companies embroiled in controversies about serious human rights abuses - involving the right to life, the right to safety, the right to health and the right to food among others. Credit Suisse, for instance, is an important player in the financing of cotton exports from Uzbekistan. Cotton production in this Central Asian country is based on a state-controlled system of forced labour including child labour. UBS on the other hand bankrolls a company that operates a mine in an area of Papua-New Guinea from which residents have been forcibly expelled and their homes burnt to the ground. These and 17 other cases are documented on the BD-campaign-website banksandhumanrights.ch launched today and in the report ‘Without Map or Compass, Credit Suisse, UBS and Human Rights' BD launches today.

In recent years, the work of UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie, has revitalized the debate about the duty of corporations to respect human rights. Mr. Ruggie stated that most corporations have no procedures in place that might provide evidence for a serious commitment to human rights. Yet such procedures of due diligence are indispensable to hold corporations to their responsibility to respect and protect human rights, according to the Special Representative.

This is precisely what we ask Credit Suisse and UBS to do - no more and no less.

We want the two banks to develop a comprehensive human rights policy including a prior, in-depth investigation into the possible effects on human rights of all business activities planned. The implementation of this policy must be guaranteed by standards and procedures developed by each company and made publicly accessible like those of other global banks. There is no more space for secrecy in the banking sector.

------------------------

 

The report Without map or Compass, Credit Suisse, UBS and Human Rights, can be found here.

For more information about banks and human rights, please visit our BankTrack's focus pages.

 

Go to:
Start
Related Banks

Related banks

Credit Suisse Switzerland

active

UBS Switzerland

active
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted