[5]
We have launched a free iPhone app to warn businesses about the risks of them being implicated in human rights abuses in high-risk areas. Download the app here. [6]
The app highlights nine areas that should raise "red flags" of warning for companies working in places where there is a heightened risk of human rights abuse. These include:
- expelling people from their communities
- forcing people to work
- handling questionable assets
- making illicit payments
- engaging abusive security forces
- trading goods in violation of international sanctions
- providing the means to kill
- allowing the use of company assets for abuse
- financing international crimes
The app is based on the Red Flags [7] initiative, a joint project by International Alert and the Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies in Norway.
The former UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie, describes Red Flags as ‘an indispensable tool alerting companies to risks that may contribute to serious human rights abuses – enabling them to change their plans before harm occurs’.
We hope that this new app will help businesses to be human-rights compliant when working in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.