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View from the Common

A publication of Boston Common Asset Management

In the Fall 2007 edition of View from the Common, we explore how corporations impact human rights globally.  Corporate complicity in human rights violations ranges from direct involvement to silent acceptance of violations committed in their midst and for their benefit.  As investors, we begin from the premise that the primary responsibility to protect human rights lies with the State.  However, the State often fails. Corporations set up shop in communities around the globe, hire employees to assemble shoes and blouses, extract minerals, manufacture semiconductors, and harvest cocoa, rubber, and cotton.  Conducting these activities in permissive environments, where States fail to protect their people, leaves corporations to make decisions that have profound implications for human rights.

Click here to download View from the Common, 2007.

Click here to download View from the Common, 2006.

Click here to download View from the Common, 2005.