Business and Human Rights

The growing impact of the corporate sector has placed the issue of business and human rights firmly on the agenda of the UN and regional rights bodies.

: Photo by allie-gator, Flickr Creative Commons

While broad-based business activity provides skills, opportunities and a decent livelihood for individuals and communities, exploitative conditions, poor safety standards and displacement can severely undermine human rights.

The growing role and impact of the corporate sector, both within countries and across borders, has placed the issue of business and human rights firmly on the agenda of the United Nations and regional human rights bodies.

In 2008, Professor John Ruggie, the UN Special Representative to the Secretary General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, proposed a 'protect, respect and remedy' policy framework to better manage business and human rights challenges.

The approach, endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council, rests on three pillars: the duty of the State to protect against human rights abuses; corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and greater access for victims to effective remedy.

However, giving practical effect to a human rights model for business remains a vastly complex undertaking in a world of 80,000 transnational corporations, 10 times as many subsidiaries and countless national firms, many of which are small and medium sized enterprises.

A set of Guiding Principles was released in 2011 to support the implementation of the “protect, respect, remedy” framework.

Role of the APF

Given the growing importance of the issue, the APF’s Advisory Council of Jurists prepared a major report on Human Rights, Corporate Accountability and Government Responsibility in 2008.

The report recommended that NHRIs should use their core functions of monitoring, education, advocacy and complaint handling to promote corporate respect for human rights.

It proposed a number of practical measures for NHRIs to consider, including:

reviewing domestic legislation regarding the establishment and conduct of corporations, as well as reviewing existing grievance mechanisms to assess their effectiveness and accessibility
monitoring and documenting violations of human rights by corporations, and supporting civil society in this work
advocating to government to develop laws and regulations that meet international best practice in the prevention of human rights violations by corporations, including labour rights
developing education programs to assist corporations and the wider business community understand their human rights obligations
using their complaints mechanisms, and the outcomes of complaints and inquiries, to monitor the conduct of corporations.

In 2009, the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC) established a Working Group on Business and Human Rights in 2009.

In 2010, the ICC’s 10th Biennial Conference drew together representatives from more than 80 NHRIs for discussions which focused on the theme of Human Rights and Business, including thematic workshops on human trafficking, child labour, the right to a safe and healthy environment; and privatisation and public procurement.

In the Edinburgh Declaration – the concluding statement of the conference – national human rights institutions pledged to take action to curb corporate abuse of human rights and ensure greater support for victims of rights violations.

In October 2011, as a follow-up to the outcomes of the ICC Conference, NHRIs from across the Asia Pacific met with representatives from business and government to discuss issues confronting the region.

During the three-day regional conference, held in Seoul and hosted by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, participants shared practical examples of how they can use their mandates to bring about positive change.

The conference outcome statement is available on this page.