Guiding Principles proposed for Business and Human Rights

The United Nations Human Rights Council has just been presented with the document Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It seeks to provide a useful minimum standard for preventing and addressing human rights abuses by business enterprises. The Guiding Principles say companies need to put due diligence systems in place to make sure that their business operations do not cause harm.

“The key question now is how to ensure that agreement in Geneva on the Guiding Principles leads to changed practices by companies on the ground? 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 DRC 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,” said Anne Lindsay, private sector analyst at the English Catholic Aid agency, CAFOD.

She says member-states need to agree to 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.

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Anne Lindsay: