UN Framework on Businesses and Human Rights Aims to “Protect, Respect, and Remedy”

Author: 
Jana Silverman

The double discourse of many companies with respect to human rights have led civil society organizations from around the world to demand a more clear-cut set of rules regarding the legal and ethical obligations of companies. Prof. John Ruggie, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, has elaborated a report which establishes a framework urging States to adopt more coherent policies with respect to rights. Social Watch will continue to monitor and collaborate in the initiatives of the Special Representative so that a rights-based approach to business can be transformed into a concrete reality.

In today’s globalized world, in which powerful transnational companies have proliferated and cross-border movements of capital, goods, and workers are a daily occurrence, the traditional mechanisms to ensure the protection of human rights that are anchored on the obligations and actions of States have proven to be insufficient in guaranteeing that rights are respected by influential non-State actors, and in particular by businesses. As a response to notorious abuses of labor, environmental, and social rights committed by certain companies in the apparel, extractive and food and beverage industries, among others, a plethora of voluntary initiatives created by international institutions, multi-stakeholder forums, and the companies themselves, have sprung up in recent years, ostensibly to improve the human rights practices of businesses. Through the use of these initiatives, a few companies have succeeded in creating concrete, transparent human rights policies to mitigate the negative impacts of their operations, while other companies have merely used these voluntary schemes to clean up their public image. The double discourse of many companies with respect to human rights and the perceived ineffectiveness of some voluntary corporate social responsibility mechanisms, have led many civil society organizations from around the world to demand a more clear-cut set of rules regarding the legal and ethical obligations of companies.

As an attempt to clarify these complex issues, Prof. John Ruggie was appointed as Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in July 2005, with a mandate to investigate “human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises”. After three years of research on the issues and consultations with government, business and civil society representatives, Special Representative Ruggie elaborated a report in April 2008 which establishes a three-pronged framework regarding human rights and companies, based on the governmental obligation to protect rights, business responsibility to respect rights, and the need for access by victims to effective remedies in cases where abuses have occurred. In particular, the framework urges States to adopt more coherent policies with respect to rights, so that governmental interests in expanding investment and trade do not interfere with the social and economic rights of the people impacted by the operations of companies either headquartered or functioning within their national borders. The framework also states that companies are obliged to use “due diligence” in respecting human rights, signifying that they must take adequate steps to become aware of, prevent, and address the negative consequences on rights not only of their direct operations but also of the actions of other State and non-State actors within their sphere of influence. In addition, judicial and non-judicial mechanisms that are effective and accessible to victims must be made available to investigate, punish and redress human rights abuses by companies.

The release of Special Representative Ruggie’s report prompted a host of reactions by legal experts, business organizations, and civil society groups, with corporate representatives lauding the new framework and its delineation of the differentiated obligations of States and businesses, while human rights and environmental groups decrying its lack of emphasis on the necessity of binding legal mechanisms to combat rights abuses by companies. At the same time, the Human Rights Council (HRC) renewed the Special Representative’s mandate until 2011, so that he can further elaborate concrete recommendations to help put into practice his “protect, respect, and remedy” framework. In this context, Special Representative Ruggie submitted a new report to the HRC in April of this year, which details his strategies to operationalize the framework, and which urges companies and governments to not treat human rights as a “casualty” of the current crisis but instead make these principles the cornerstone of efforts towards economic recovery.

As part of the Special Representative’s work to disseminate and to broaden the “protect, respect, and remedy” framework, he is presently conducting multi-stakeholder consultations involving representatives of civil society, businesses and intergovernmental agencies, the most recent of which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in May and in which members of both the Social Watch International Secretariat and the Social Watch national coalitions of Argentina and Ecuador took part. The consultation provided a space for these stakeholders to exchange information on their own experiences regarding the rights impacts of private sector ventures, and allowed participants to question Special Representative Ruggie on how the implementation of his proposed framework can be made more effective. While business representatives highlighted the need for more non-judicial, locally-based complaints and conflict resolution mechanisms, the NGO activists present emphasized the necessity for the Special Representative to extend his consultations to include more on-site visits with people directly victimized by abusive corporations. In addition, they reiterated their support for the formulation of intergovernmental standards that would hold companies legally accountable in the international arena for any grave human rights violations that they commit and that go unpunished in domestic jurisdictions.

The event concluded with an invitation by Special Representative Ruggie for companies and civil society to keep engaged with the work of his office and the UN system in general regarding businesses and human rights. For its part, Social Watch will continue to monitor and collaborate in a constructive yet critical way in the initiatives of the Special Representative, in the hopes that the remaining period of his mandate can be used to not just identify problems but also create effective mechanisms to address rights violations by companies, so that a rights-based approach to business can be transformed from a series of voluntary, unilateral commitments into a concrete reality that positively impacts the lives of all those who have suffered from irresponsible corporate behaviour.

For more information on the mandate of the Special Representative on Business and Human Rights and to download his reports, go to: http://www.business-humanrights.org/Gettingstarted/UNSpecialRepresentative

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