'Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights' published

Following six years’ research and consultation, the United Nations has released a set of ‘Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights’. The ‘Guiding Principles’, led by UN Special Representative John Ruggie, aim to provide for the first time, an authoritative global standard that will ensure businesses respect the human rights of the communities in which they work.

In response to the report, CAFOD’s private sector analyst Anne Lindsay said: “While we would have liked Professor Ruggie to be more ambitious, the Guiding Principles provide a useful minimum standard for preventing and addressing human rights abuses by businesses. The Guiding Principles recognise that businesses of all sizes, structures and sectors can impact on the whole range of internationally recognised human rights. Therefore, to meet their responsibility to respect human rights, companies need to put due diligence systems in place to make sure that their business operations do not cause harm.

CAFOD's measure for success

“Our measure for the success of the Guiding Principles will be a reduction in corporate abuses and greater respect for the rights of communities in countries such as the Philippines, Honduras and the Democratic Republic of Congo and for workers in global supply chains. As part of the state duty to protect human rights, we want to see the UK government requiring businesses to report on their human rights risks and impacts and show exactly how they are taking a responsible approach.

Human rights issue too important to abandon

“John Ruggie’s mandate finishes this summer and at the Human Rights Council in June, member states will be deciding what comes next. The issue of business and human rights is too important to abandon now. It is essential that states agree a follow-up mechanism at the UN with sufficient powers and resources to evaluate the impact of the Guiding Principles for communities and workers and make recommendations on how any protection gaps can be addressed.”

The Guiding Principles can be found online.