Five On Friday – Five Recent Developments That We've Been Watching Closely

It's Friday and time for another overview of developments in the field of business and human rights that we've been monitoring.

This week's post includes: the first reports published pursuant to the requirements of the U.K. Modern Slavery Act; an overview of social and environmental shareholder proposals filed for the 2016 proxy season; and a new effort to benchmark technology companies on their policies and practices with regard to forced labor in their supply chains.

• Companies with financial years ending on March 31, 2016 are the first companies required to publish a statement pursuant to the U.K. Modern Slavery Act. Companies are expected to publish their statement "as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of their financial year" and are encouraged to do so within six months. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is maintaining a registry of corporate statements published pursuant to the Act.