Human Rights

Barinem Kiobel was executed on November 10, 1995 by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha of Nigeria. Almost 16 years later, the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil multinational, can be held responsible for his death. Read More

Wilmar of Singapore, the world's biggest global processor and merchandiser of palm oil, has come in for harsh criticism for the environmental and social impact of its Indonesian plantations. The allegations also raise serious questions about the role of WWF and the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil. Read More

A new cache of Wikileaks documents on the secretive surveillance industry uncovers 160 companies in 25 countries that make $5 billion a year selling sophisticated surveillance technology to security authorities around the world to secretly carry out mass surveillance of people via their phones and computers. Read More

Serco, a UK company, has a contract to manage the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre some 1,600 miles off the West Coast of Australia, which houses thousands of asylum seekers. The detainees at the overcrowded facility are experiencing serious mental health problems that union organizers say are a result of poor training and understaffing. Read More

Technology from a major Silicon Valley company, Blue Coat, is being used by the Syrian government to censor the Internet and monitor dissidents, according to activists. The equipment can be used to monitor users and block access to certain websites, such as social networking applications like Facebook and internet phone sites like Skype, which were key to the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia Read More

TransCanada is seeking permission to build a 1,661-mile-long oil pipeline to carry crude from Alberta's oil sands to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. Tribal leaders from both sides of the border have joined environmental activists to oppose the project. Read More

Human Rights Law Foundation, accuses Cisco Systems of tailoring technology for the Chinese government to monitor and apprehend members of the banned Falun Gong organization. Read More

Bell Pottinger, the London-based public relations firm, has been working for Yemen's National Awareness Authority, which is run by the nephew of Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The organization has been accused of spreading propaganda on behalf of the government. Read More

Details of shadowy CIA flights to rendition prisoners in the war on terror to Guantanamo have emerged in a billing dispute between contractors. Read More

Farmers in Odisha are challenging POSCO, a South Korean steel giant. The confrontation is yet another David versus Goliath battle pitting "progress" against traditional agriculturists in a struggle to define development in India. Read More