Economic and Social Rights

Investment and Human Rights

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Tibet

In March 2005, the Canadian company Nortel Networks Corp. announced it had entered into an agreement with China's Ministry of Railways to provide a digital wireless communications network for a new railway being built in Tibet. The technology, called the Global System for Mobile Communications for Railways, is a key component in the railway’s communication system. Railway communications systems are themselves part of China’s Golden Shield Project, an all-encompassing surveillance network that monitors and controls the flow of information and people. The case study is ex-ante; it looks at the potential future impacts of the communications technology on the Tibetan people’s rights to privacy, to security of the person, to freedom of expression and to self-determination.

The case study raises the issue of corporate complicity within public-private partnerships, particularly in non-democratic states where human rights violations are systemic. It also looks at the human rights obligations of the company’s home state with regard to the export of dual-use technology.

Tibet: Final Report (PDF)