Acres International has snubbed the impoverished kingdom of Lesotho by not paying a R13 million fine after being convicted of corruption and bribery. Instead, the Canadian engineering and construction company wants to pay the penalty in instalments, according to Lesotho attorney-general Fine Maema, who said he had flatly refused the request. Parent company Acres Group had a gross revenue of R1 billion in 2002, the year Acres was convicted. On Friday, Acres seemed unaware that its offer had been rejected.

As the African Union's (AU) Pan African Parliament (Parliament) is inaugurated, it is essential for African parliamentarians and leaders to recognize the centrality of human rights and the need to incorporate them in all parliamentary activities, Amnesty International said at the beginning of the historic first session of the Parliament, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. "The inauguration of the Parliament is another chance for African governments to demonstrate their expressed commitment to the full realization of human rights in the continent. The Parliament must seek to safeguard the fundamental human rights of African peoples and the principles on which the AU is founded," Amnesty said.

One of the hottest topics at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) - Geneva, March 15 to April 23 - will undoubtedly be the future of the proposed Norms on Business and Human Rights. Approved last August by a UNHCR Sub-Commission of human rights experts, the Norms make the human rights obligations of transnational corporations explicit and suggest further steps towards corporate accountability. Corporate lobby groups such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have launched a fierce counter-campaign aiming to kill off the proposal, with self-proclaimed Corporate Social Responsibility champion Shell in a leading role.