"Business & human rights in development cooperation: Has Sweden incorporated the UN Guiding Principles?", Feb 2016

This report explores the ways in which the Swedish State has integrated business and human rights norms into some of the institutions that are tasked with international development mandates and also are engaging with business in some manner and therefore may face policy tensions. We ask the question: Do the institutions that are responsible for delivering Swedish development cooperation have the policies, guidelines and procedures in place to be able to know and show that they contribute to improved human rights practices by business?... To answer this question we examine the policies, procedures and some of the practices of five selected State agencies and State-owned or controlled companies…[F]indings do show trends and insight into the current performance of Swedish development cooperation; elements of good practice but also gaps that may be opportunities to align with international norms and evolving praxis. The State institutions examined are: The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU), the Swedish Trade and Invest Council (Business Sweden), Swedfund International AB (Swedfund), and the Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK). The two responsible ministries are the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation (MoEI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).The better performance of State-owned or controlled companies compared to agencies does reflect that there has...been more uptake of the UNGPs second pillar regarding the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and more practice shared globally amongst peers than is the case for the first pillar.