Greetings from Basel, a hotbed of business and human rights activity!

That’s not true, unless you count my barren office corner as a hotbed. I just wanted to write and let everyone who has been so supportive of NomoGaia know that I’m not just slacking off while I’m out here, and neither is the rest of the Nomogaia team. Since I wrote from Bolivia, NomoGaia has become the proud employer of zero paid employees. My student stipend is supported by Newfields (a consulting firm out of Atlanta – they literally wrote the book on Health Impact Assessment), so Nomogaia can now dedicate all of its funds to projects. This is great, since we have plenty going on. Mark has been advising the global oil and gas industry association, IPIECA on human rights standards, going back and forth between the US and London. I had the pleasure of co-hosting a webinar on human rights impact assessment for Business and Social Responsibility (BSR) and helping John Ruggie’s new organization, Shift.org, organize thoughts on field-based experiences with HRIA to help their corporate clients. Blair has been busy finalizing one last trip to Bolivia and starting work on an HRIA of a fish farm in Chile. She also coordinated the translation of a summary of the HRIA methodology into six languages, which are all available online now at nomogaia.org and at business-humanrights.org.

I head back to the UN (a train ride away, in Geneva!) early next month to follow up on advances in the field. If all goes well, we’ll be back in Bolivia, Uganda and Chile before March of next year. The photos and emails will be more exciting then!

Author: Kendyl Salcito, executive director, NomoGaia

Kendyl Salcito developed her expertise in human rights and business as a foreign reporter in Southeast Asia and North America. She has advised industry groups on corporate human rights performance and contributed to the development of the UN’s Guidance Principles for Human Rights and Business.