Human Rights

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Human Rights Business a discussion with GCS
members.

• Mandate and Report of Special Representative,
  John Ruggie

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Human Rights-Context

• Origin of Human Rights
• The origin of Human rights can be traced
  back to the Universal declaration on Human rights
  (UDHR), this year marking its 60th anniversary.
  India is not only a party to it, but was also one
  of its drafting members. The International Bill
  of Rights, comprising of the UDHR, the ICCPR and
  the ICESCR, has been well enunciated in the
  Constitution of India.
• Human Rights
• While the primary responsibility lies with
  states, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  recognizes duties of "every organ of society",
  including corporations.
•  

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WHY TAKE A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH?

• Historic relevance of the human rights system
• Represents an internationally agreed framework
• Legitimacy
• Credibility

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THE UNGC 10 PRINCIPLES
The Global Compact commits companies embrace,
support and enact, within their sphere of
influence, a set of core principles.

• Environment
• Businesses should support a precautionary
  approach to environmental challenges,
• Undertake initiatives to promote greater
  environmental responsibility and
• Encourage the development and diffusion of
  environmentally friendly technologies s
• Anti-Corruption
• 10. Businesses should work against
  corruption in all its forms, including extortion
  and bribery

• Human Rights
• Businesses should support and respect the
  protection of internationally proclaimed human
  rights and
• Make sure that they are not complicit in human
  rights abuses
• Labour
• Businesses should uphold the freedom of
  association and the effective recognition of the
  right to collective bargaining
• The elimination of all forms of forced and
  compulsory labour,
• The effective abolition of child labour, and
• The elimination of discrimination in respect of
  employment and occupation

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THREE KEY CONCEPTS/TOOLS
Spheres of Influence
Human Rights Matrix
Complicity
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SRSG on Business and Human rights

• Professor John Ruggie was appointed as
  United Nations Special Representative for
  Business and Human Rights in 2005 to provide a
  framework for the Business and human rights. His
  final report on the mandate was presented to the
  Human Rights Council in April 2008. His mandate
  has been further extended to work on elaborate on
  the three key core principle of his report and
  also to integrate a gender perspective throughout
  his work and to give special attention to the
  marginalized.

Prof. John RUGGIE
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Original Mandate of the Special Representative

• To identify and clarify standards of corporate
  responsibility and accountability for businesses
  with regard to human rights
• To elaborate on the role of States in effectively
  regulating and adjudicating
• the role of TNCs and other businesses
  regarding human rights
• To research and clarify the implications for
  business enterprises of concepts such as
  complicity and sphere of influence
• To develop materials and methodologies for
  undertaking human rights impact assessments of
  the activities of businesses
• To compile a compendium of best practices of
  States and TNCs and other business enterprises

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Protect, Respect and Remedy a Framework for
Business and Human Rights

• Establishment of a policy framework comprising
• the state duty to protect against abuses by third
  parties,
• the corporate responsibility to respect all
  internationally recognised human rights,
• the need for more effective access to remedies.

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State duty to protect

• Emphasis on the state duty to protect human
  rights as a foundation of the human rights system
• Stresses that governments must do more to foster
  corporate cultures which respect rights and
  close the governance gaps.
• States are encouraged to share information about
  challenges and best practices, thus promoting
  more consistent approaches and perhaps increasing
  their expectations of each other for protecting
  rights against corporate abuse.
• Where States lack the technical or financial
  resources to effectively regulate companies and
  monitor their compliance, assistance from other
  States with the relevant knowledge and experience
  offers an important means to strengthen the
  enforcement of human rights standards.

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Corporate responsibility to respect

• Recognition of the corporate responsibility to
  respect human rights and identification of the
  key responsibilities
• Its due diligence component forms baseline for
  any business engaging on human rights, but
  companies need to adopt a human rights policy for
  detailed guidance
• Based on Impact assesment, companies should
  refine their plans to address and avoid potential
  negative human rights impacts
• Industry and multi-stakeholder initiatives like
  Global Compact could promote sharing of
  information, improvement of tools, and
  standardization of metrics.
• The scope of due diligence to meet the corporate
  responsibility to respect human rights-sphere of
  Influence- depends on the potential and actual
  human rights impacts resulting from a companys
  business activities.
• Companies can avoid complicity by employing the
  due diligence processes which, will apply not
  only to their own activities but also to the
  relationships connected with them.

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Access to Remedies

• Identifies criteria of effectiveness for
  grievance mechanisms and suggests ways to
  strengthen the current system
• Judicial capacity of States to hear complaints
  and enforce remedies against all corporations
  should be strengthened.
• Non-judicial mechanisms to address alleged
  breaches of human rights standards should meet
  principles of accessibility, predictibilitry,
  equity, transparency and be rights based.
• Where NHRIs are able to address grievances
  involving companies, they can provide a means to
  hold business accountable.
• Collaborative models could facilitate access for
  complainants by providing a single avenue for
  recourse to multiple organizations and reduce the
  resource implications for the individual entities
  involved.

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New Mandate of Special Representative

• To provide views and recommendations to
  strengthen the fulfilment of the duty of the
  State to protect from human rights abuses
  committed by businesses
• To elaborate further on the scope and content of
  the corporate responsibility to respect all human
  rights
• To make recommendations, at the national,
  regional and international level, for enhancing
  access to effective remedies available to those
  whose human rights are impacted by corporate
  activities
• To integrate a gender perspective throughout his
  work and to give special attention to the
  marginalised

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Continued

• Identify and promote best practices and lessons
  learned related to businesses, in coordination
  with the efforts of the human rights working
  group of the Global Compact
• To work in close coordination with United Nations
  and other relevant international bodies
• To promote the framework and to continue to
  consult on the issues covered by the mandate on
  an ongoing basis with all stakeholders
• To report annually to the Council and the
  General Assembly

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Latest on Business and Human Rights

• 214 companies have taken the step of adopting a
  formal company policy statement explicitly
  referring to human rights.
• The ICJ's Expert Legal Panel on Corporate
  Complicity in International Crimes, which was
  established to develop the legal and public
  policy meaning of corporate complicity in the
  worst violations of international human rights
  and humanitarian law that amount to international
  crimes, has concluded its work and released its
  final report to the public.
• An Institute for Human Rights and Business, an
  independent global organization dedicated to
  helping improve understanding of the impacts of
  business on issues relating to internationally
  proclaimed human rights standards and that
  business, government and civil society can play,
  has been formed. It seeks to achieve this aim by
  serving as a center of expertise, constructive
  dialogue and learning which involves all relevant
  stakeholders. It will be a catalyst, convener and
  communicator, working with other actors to
  dramatically scale-up and promote good
  performance and action by businesses from all
  regions . The latest developments can be found at
  www.institutebhr.org.

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Celebration of the 60th Year anniversary on Human
Rights

• The Business and Human Rights International
  Seminar will take place on 4 5 December 2008,
  in Paris, France to celebrate the 60th
  Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
  Rights. The Declaration was adopted by the United
  Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December
  1948, so the Paris location has been chosen as a
  deliberate tribute to this.
• This will be a key international opportunity
  to review global progress on this issue over
  recent years and chart the developments ahead.
  The event will bring together business,
  political, civil society and trade union leaders
  as well as diverse learning from around the
  world. Details are available on
  (www.anniversaryseminar.org).

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