"The business case for protecting civic rights", 15 Oct 2018

Around the world, citizens are increasingly silenced, social movements are stifled and media and civil society are being attacked...Threats to those defending these rights are also on the rise with 1,283 recorded attacks on human rights defenders working on cases linked to business... For business, these trends translate to threats to employees, unpredictable costs, unreliable markets, increased corruption and weakened legislative systems. More and more business leaders are recognising this and speaking out to help secure a future of freedom. .. Today, The B Team has released The Business Case for Protecting Civic Rights, to examine the economic impact of respect for civic rights and civic space. The Business Case for Protecting Civic Rights utilises data from the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem) to augment the business case for action and explore how a better business environment is linked to greater civic rights and freedoms. The results of this research are clear: limits on important civic freedoms are linked to negative economic outcomes. Countries with higher degrees of respect for civic rights experience higher economic growth rates as well as higher levels of human development. The research shows that these economic growth rates are especially linked to the state of civic rights in the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia... [Refers to Unilever].