Puvan Selvanathan resigns from UN Working Group on Business & Human Rights, calling for a binding treaty
Puvan Selvanathan has resigned from the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, where he has been working since 2011. In an open letter to J. Rücker, current President of the Human Rights Council, Selvanathan calls for a legally-binding treaty on business and human rights. He states “I believe that if a business can operate ‘legally’ yet impact negatively on human rights then that is a simple failure of a state’s duties. […] I suggest that if states wish for businesses to respect human rights then what that constitutes must be made mandatory. […] The loudest calls within a company for higher goals are distant echoes if even a whisper for profit exists. […] Companies are our own social creations and reflect our own values. They are defined by the rules that we choose to lay down.”...