Business & Human Rights : UN Special Representative on business & human rights

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Main Content: UN Special Representative on business & human rights

The UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution on 20 April 2005 (by a vote of 49 to 3 with 1 abstention) requesting "the Secretary-General to appoint a special representative on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises...with the following mandate:

(a) To identify and clarify standards of corporate responsibility and accountability for transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human rights;

(b) To elaborate on the role of States in effectively regulating and adjudicating the role of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human rights, including through international cooperation;

(c) To research and clarify the implications for transnational corporations and other business enterprises of concepts such as “complicity” and “sphere of influence”;

(d) To develop materials and methodologies for undertaking human rights impact assessments of the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises;

(e) To compile a compendium of best practices of States and transnational corporations and other business enterprises..."

[full text of this resolution can be accessed from our page dedicated to the Special Representative's mandate

See also our website's portal dedicated to the Special Representative's mandate, documents prepared by and for his team, and submissions to the Special Representative.]

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Title: Debate: UN Global Compact – Is the Compact raising corporate responsibility standards?

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Author: Ethical Corporation
Dated: 10 May 2008

No says Bart Slob, senior researcher at Dutch-based Somo and co-ordinator of GlobalCompactCritics.org. Yes, counters Georg Kell, executive head of the UN Global Compact.

Title: Dubious company - Ending poverty and winning human rights can't be left to voluntary initiatives of corporations

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Author: [comment] John Hilary, Guardian [UK]
Dated: 06 May 2008

Today the prime minister hosts the Business Call to Action in support of the fight against global poverty. The event will showcase a range of new corporate products and services supposedly designed to help achieve the [Millennium Development Goals]... For an event aimed at convincing the public that multinational corporations have a positive contribution to make, the line-up is likely to raise a few eyebrows... In his new report on business and human rights, UN special representative John Ruggie attacks the "permissive environment for wrongful acts by companies of all kinds" which has been fostered as a result of government reliance on voluntary initiatives rather than regulation of business. He also laments government failure to take action in defence of the victims of corporate abuse. [refers to Anglo American, Bechtel, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart]

Title: Corporate Responsibility for Human Rights

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Author: American Society of Intl. Law
Dated: May 2008

May 20, 2008, 4:30-6:30 p.m. - Dearborn, MI. The Committee on International Human Rights of the International Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan with support from the American Society of International Law will host a distinguished panel discussion on how corporations should approach human rights questions. [speakers include: Chris Jochnick, Oxfam America; Monique Oxender, Ford Motor; Steven Ratner, Univ. of Michigan Law School]

Title: [PDF] Initial statement by the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights (BLIHR) in response to the 2008 report of the UN Special Representative on Business & Human Rights

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Visit: [PDF] Initial statement by the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights (BLIHR) in response to the 2008 report of the UN Special Representative on Business & Human Rights

Author: Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights
Dated: May 2008

In particular, we welcome the recognition of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. It requires the performance of due diligence, which is not just a passive or reactive process. The responsibility to respect and its due diligence component form a very useful baseline for any business wishing to engage on human rights. Moving forward, it would be helpful to clarify under what circumstances companies might have more extensive responsibilities in order to respect human rights...

Title: [PDF] Joint initial views of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) to he Eighth Session of the Human Rights Council on the Third report of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights

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Visit: [PDF] Joint initial views of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) to he Eighth Session of the Human Rights Council on the Third report of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights

Author: ICC, IOE, BIAC
Dated: May 2008

[We] welcome the third report of Professor John Ruggie, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business and human rights. This report, “Protect, Respect and Remedy: A framework for Business and Human Rights”, presents a well-constructed and clearly articulated framework for addressing business and human rights. Together with the extensive work behind it, the report has significantly advanced the debate on business and human rights.

Title: Treaty road not travelled

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Author: John Ruggie, UN Special Representative on business & human rights, in Ethical Corporation
Dated: May 2007

I have three main reservations about recommending to states that they launch a treaty process [on business & human rights] at this time. First, treaty-making can be painfully slow, while the challenges of business and human rights are immediate and urgent. Second, and worse, a treaty-making process now risks undermining effective shorter-term measures to raise business standards on human rights. And third, even if treaty obligations were imposed on companies, serious questions remain about how they would be enforced...

Title: [PDF] Does International Law Mean Business - A Partnership for Progress? [UK]

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Author: Clifford Chance
Dated: 01 May 2008

The Conference will ask whether we can conceive of an international legal order in which business participates as a partner - alongside governments and international organisations - in confronting the challenge of moving fragile states and their peoples, through sustainable development, to peace, security and prosperity. Ten panels of international law experts from around the globe, plus practitioners, experts and business representatives from relevant fields, will address a variety of topical issues raised by the Conference theme...Keynote speakers: Professor Paul Collier...Professor John Ruggie...[includes link to the Conference Registration Form - conference to be held 16-17 May]

Title: Human Rights: Everybody’s Business

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Author: Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights & President of Ireland
Dated: 28 Apr 2008

The campaign to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) during 2008 is well underway... But what does the 60th anniversary mean for business?... First, we should acknowledge the progress made by many corporate leaders over the past decade in understanding the relevance of human rights... Second, today few question the central tenet that “all organs of society” (as the Universal Declaration puts it), including business, have human rights responsibilities... But it is also clear that a great deal of work remains. To start, even the most committed managers still need more practical guidance on what human rights mean for them... [N]ot enough attention has been given to the role of government in protecting against third-party abuses of rights, including by business entities, through appropriate and universally enforced national regulation... We need to find ways to engage private and state-owned enterprises from emerging market economies... The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration presents a key opportunity to address these challenges.

Title: Beyond the “genocide Olympics”

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Author: Economist
Dated: 24 Apr 2008

...[T]he battle over the Olympics paints a false picture of the current relationship between business and human-rights activists. What is striking today is how often activists, big firms and governments are in agreement about the importance of human rights, and are working together to advance them...This new consensus is reflected by the lack of serious opposition to a new report by John Ruggie, the UN Special Representative on Human Rights, which proposes a new framework that states clearly that firms have a responsibility actively to respect human rights. [refers to Coca-Cola, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, McDonald’s, Samsung, Carrefour, Shell]

Title: Multinationals, Human Rights, and UN – III

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Author: Robert Senser, Human Rights for Workers
Dated: 24 Apr 2008

Can anything concrete come out of the report that Professor John Ruggie prepared for the June session of the UN Human Rights Council? After all, the report offers just a “framework” for business and human rights, not a program of action. Yet the report is far from a compilation of abstractions. I find that it contains a bundle of specific policy ideas that, if taken seriously by the Council and a few major UN members, will improve the protection of individuals, organizations, and weak OECD governments against what Ruggie calls “corporate-related human rights harm.”...

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Visit: Multinationals, Human Rights, and UN - I

Author: Robert Senser, Human Rights for Workers
Dated: 21 Apr 2008

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre: UN Special Representative on business & human rights

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Title: Debate: UN Global Compact – Is the Compact raising corporate responsibility standards?

Title: Dubious company - Ending poverty and winning human rights can't be left to voluntary initiatives of corporations

Title: Corporate Responsibility for Human Rights

Title: [PDF] Initial statement by the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights (BLIHR) in response to the 2008 report of the UN Special Representative on Business & Human Rights

Title: Treaty road not travelled

Title: [PDF] Does International Law Mean Business - A Partnership for Progress? [UK]

Title: Human Rights: Everybody’s Business

Title: Beyond the “genocide Olympics”

Title: Multinationals, Human Rights, and UN – III

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Business & Human Rights Resource Centre: UN Special Representative on business & human rights

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Main Content: UN Special Representative on business & human rights

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Title: Debate: UN Global Compact – Is the Compact raising corporate responsibility standards?

Title: Dubious company - Ending poverty and winning human rights can't be left to voluntary initiatives of corporations

Title: Corporate Responsibility for Human Rights

Title: [PDF] Initial statement by the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights (BLIHR) in response to the 2008 report of the UN Special Representative on Business & Human Rights

Title: Treaty road not travelled

Title: [PDF] Does International Law Mean Business - A Partnership for Progress? [UK]

Title: Human Rights: Everybody’s Business

Title: Beyond the “genocide Olympics”

Title: Multinationals, Human Rights, and UN – III

List item: 1

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