Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 11 Aug 2021

Since the “Going Out Policy” was initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Government to promote Chinese investments abroad, the footprint of Chinese enterprises has expanded considerably. This has been further accelerated by President Xi Jinping’s launch of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, after which China committed to work “together with other countries to foster the environmentally-friendly and sound development of the Belt and Road, featuring peace and the exchange of wisdom, and to build a global economy more vibrant, open, inclusive, stable and sustainable.”

As Chinese businesses – particularly energy, construction, and mining and metals companies – continue to venture abroad, civil society and the media have reported an unfortunate increase in social, environmental and human rights violations – particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Key findings

Between 2013 and 2020, we recorded 679 human rights abuse allegations linked to Chinese business conduct abroad, and 102 company responses to these allegations. The visualisation shows the profile of the allegations by sector, region and issue. You can filter by sector and click to drill down on regions and issues to explore details of the allegations and the companies involved.

Includes information on human rights issues related to Chinese investment in the CEECA region.