Council holds Panel discussion on the Role of the United Nations in Advancing the Business and Human Rights Agenda

Human Rights Council  
AFTERNOON 

30 May 2013

The Human Rights Council this afternoon held a panel discussion on the role of the United Nations system in advancing the business and human rights agenda through embedding the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the post-2015 framework and related United Nations strategies, policies, and processes.
 
Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in an opening statement that the business of trading had sustained billions of lives around the world since the beginning of time and it was a mistake to demonize globalization.  It was true however that globalization had created dissonance due to competing interests so business activities had to be checked in order to avoid human rights violations.  Governments were obliged to protect employees through effective legislation, yet they failed to regulate the human rights impact of business or to ensure access to justice for victims.  The United Nations had a role to play in integrating the business and human rights agenda into its work.  It could incorporate the Guiding Principles into its post-2015 framework as well as into its strategies for partnering with business. 

The panellists were Ursula Wynhoven, the General Counsel and Head of Human Rights at the United Nations Global Compact; Kristin Hetle, Director of the Strategic Partnerships Division at United Nations Women; Shireen Said, the Senior Policy Advisor on Human Rights at the United Nations Development Programme; Leila Pakkala, the Director of  Private Fundraising and Partnerships at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund; and Elisabeth Tuerk, Legal Expert in International Investment Agreements at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Ursula Wynhoven, the General Counsel and Head of Human Rights at the United Nations Global Compact, said that since it began 13 years ago, the Global Compact Office had worked with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other partners on the business and human rights agenda.  It had a Human Rights Working Group, which beyond tools and guidance, focussed on good practice development and dissemination.  An opportunity had been identified to pursue an integrated approach that recognized respect for human rights as an essential dimension of sustainability. 

Kristin Hetle, Director of the Strategic Partnerships Division at United Nations Women, said that United Nations Women was committed to working with the United Nations system and the business community on common agendas.  Partnering with all segments of society, including the corporate sector, was critical.  Business had a crucial role to play to create decent jobs and incomes for women, while contributing to environmental sustainability and upholding human rights.  States had a duty to live up to the obligations they had committed to in international human rights instruments and to ensure that laws and mechanisms were in place that made clear to business their obligations and held them accountable.

Shireen Said, the Senior Policy Advisor on Human Rights at the United Nations Development Programme, said the Programme was a development agency that had multiple engagements with business with the aim of meeting the Millennium Development Goals by fostering inclusive growth with advancing business models that could be positive for development and that went beyond traditional concepts of corporate social responsibility.  The United Nations Development Programme acknowledged that further analysis was needed toward a transformative method of engagement in the long term.

Leila Pakkala, the Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, said the Fund had a long history of working with the private sector to deliver results for children.  Child rights should be included in the policies and operation of businesses and it was encouraging to see that several companies had already integrated principles to this end into their policy frameworks.  The Committee on the Rights of the Child had embarked on a consultative process to develop a General Comment on child rights and business, which provided States with guidance on the nature of their obligations on this issue.

Elisabeth Tuerk, Legal Expert in International Investment Agreements at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development could offer a number of examples where business and human rights had been mainstreamed into its work.  A year ago it launched its Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development and had proposed that sustainable development be made a goal in itself.  It believed that many more opportunities were to come, in the context of the post-2015 development agenda.

In the discussion, speakers all agreed that businesses had a responsibility toward human rights in their employment and social policies and many supported the mechanisms being put forward to make more equitable the relationship between development actors including human rights bodies and corporate entities.  The United Nations system had a vital role to play in raising awareness and capacity building, and building a framework within which business could work toward the better protection of human rights in the workplace; some States added that the pursuit of a human rights agenda should be seen as part of economic sustainability in which business naturally had a stake.

Speaking in the discussion were Slovenia, speaking on behalf of a group of countries, Norway, Colombia speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin American Countries, the European Union, Kyrgyzstan, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Chile, the Russian Federation, Algeria, Egypt, Australia, Morocco, Qatar, Poland, Mexico, the United States, Maldives, Spain, Germany, China, Cuba, Iran and Bahrain.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission also took the floor, as did the non-governmental organizations Civicus, the International Service for Human Rights, the Indian Council of South America and Franciscans International.

The Human Rights Council will resume its work at 9 a.m. on Friday, 31 May, when it will continue with a clustered interactive dialogue with the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, and with the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Opening Statement

NAVI PILLAY, High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that since the beginning of time the business of trading had sustained billions of lives around the world.  It would be a mistake to demonize the globalization of the market economy, which could actually increase standards of living and have a positive impact on the world’s population.  Nevertheless, it was true that globalization had created dissonance because of competing interests in business activities.  It was necessary, therefore, to check business activities in order to avoid abuses and human rights violations, such as employment in intolerable conditions.  Governments had the obligation to protect employees through effective legislation and oversight, yet governments failed to regulate the human rights impact of business or to ensure access to justice for victims of corporate human rights abuse.  Enlightened governments and companies, on the other hand, recognized that only upholding human rights could help to create a stable society in which business activities could thrive. 

The United Nations had its own key role to play in integrating the business and human rights agenda into its work.  Two years ago the Council endorsed a series of Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  Now it was time to work on embedding the Guiding Principles into the United Nations’ development strategies, policies and processes.  Business could only fully contribute to overcoming poverty by respecting human rights.  Therefore, they needed to help governments ensure that mechanisms for oversight and accountability functioned effectively, with protection of human rights at their core, and with coherence between human rights and other development objectives.  The United Nations system could incorporate the three pillars of the Guiding Principles into its post-2015 framework and into its strategies for partnering with business. 

Statements by Panellists

URSULA WYNHOVEN, General Counsel and Head of Human Rights at the United Nations Global Compact, said that the United Nations Global Compact was the United Nations’ corporate responsibility and sustainability initiative, which advocated that business did no harm, made a difference, and worked with others.  The total number of signatories, business and non business, was now more than 10,000.  Since the Global Compact began 13 years ago, the Global Compact Office had worked closely with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and with other partners on the business and human rights agenda.  It had also actively promoted robust and user-friendly tools and guidance developed by other organizations.  It had a Human Rights Working Group, which beyond tools and guidance focused on good practice development and dissemination through good practice notes, peer viewed case studies, a webinar series, and an online dilemmas forum.  An opportunity that had been identified and actively pursued was an integrated approach to human rights that recognised respect for human rights as an essential dimension of sustainability.  A taskforce of companies from different sectors and countries within the Global Compact had developed some recommendations of themes, goals and targets that they would like to see succeed the Millennium Development Goals. 

KRISTIN HETLE, Director of the Strategic Partnerships Division, United Nations Women, said that United Nations Women was committed to working with the United Nations system and the business community on common agendas and leveraging collective strengths.  Despite progress in many areas, no country could claim to be free from gender-based discrimination.  Partnering with all segments of society, including the corporate sector, was critical.  Engaging the business community was key to unlocking women’s full potential and in turn, eradicating poverty and hunger and improving the lives of millions.  This was especially true for women’s economic empowerment.  Today, women made up 45 per cent of the world’s workforce, yet they accounted for 70 per cent of the poor.  Business had a crucial role to play to create decent jobs and incomes for women, build their skills and capacities, while contributing to environmental sustainability and upholding human rights.  The Women’s Empowerment Principles offered a platform for business to purposefully drive the advancement of women in the workplace, in the marketplace and in the community.  States had a duty to live up to the obligations they had committed to in international human rights instruments and to ensure that laws and mechanisms were in place that made clear to business their obligations and also held them accountable.  There should not be any safe havens for corporate human rights abusers. 

SHIREEN SAID, Senior Policy Advisor for Human Rights at the United Nations Development Programme, sent the apologies of Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, for her absence and presented a snapshot of the United Nations Development Programme’s experience of the topic in hand at country, regional and global levels.  The United Nations Development Programme was a development agency that had multiple engagements with business with the aim of meeting the Millennium Development Goals by fostering inclusive growth with advancing business models that could be positive for development and that went beyond traditional concepts of corporate social responsibility.  As a result of experience in the Latin American and Caribbean region in the extractive industries, the United Nations Development Programme would co-host an enabling forum to provide capacity-building opportunities for practitioners and civil society and identify material business and human rights in the region.  Recent global and regional consultations on governance and the post-2015 development agenda stressed the need for a transformative people-centred agenda.  While it was common to find that Governments’ hands were tied due to contracts entered into that stopped them from protecting social issues, the need to engage on principles to responsibly manage contracts was well noted.  The United Nations Development Programme acknowledged that further analysis was needed toward a transformative method of engagement in the long term.

LEILA PAKKALA, Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships at the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, said that the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund had a long history of working with the private sector to deliver results for children.  One long-lasting relationship which had been initiated on the basis of child labour concerns was with IKEA, which had sought to address the root causes of child labour in India over the course of the last decade.  It had become increasingly important to develop standards on how business related to children’s rights and how the issues affecting the rights and wellbeing of children could be addressed.  However, it was not just about developing a set of principles, but child rights should be included in the policies and operation of businesses.  The Child Rights Checklist was one of the tools designed to facilitate that process. 

It was encouraging to see that several companies had already integrated the principles into their policy frameworks and had begun to focus on children’s rights in assessing the impact of their business on human rights.  In certain cases, companies had taken action in relation to children’s rights issues as a way of addressing key business risks, and in others to maximize the power of business to support children’s rights.  The Committee on the Rights of the Child embarked on a consultative process to develop a General Comment on child rights and business, which provided States with guidance on the nature of their obligations under the Convention with regard to the business sector.  More work was needed to fill gaps in legislative and regulatory frameworks, especially in areas related to the marketing of products and services.  

ELISABETH TUERK, Legal Expert in International Investment Agreements, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development could offer a number of examples where business and human rights had been mainstreamed into its work.  Human rights and business were of paramount importance to it.  A regulatory framework could help ensure that the private sector acted appropriately.  The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development worked to ensure that the private sector was part of the solution rather than the problem.  It had a year ago launched its Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development.  On what could be done to ensure that these important issues would be present in the post-2015 agenda, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development proposed that sustainable development be made a goal in itself.  It could be important to have both a quantitative and qualitative target.  The business and human rights agenda could add context, colour, contour and shading to this.  Human rights, along with sustainable development and sustainable growth, were very much part of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s agenda.  It believed that many more opportunities were to come, in the context of the post-2015 development agenda.

Discussion

Slovenia, speaking on behalf of a group of countries, said that it was crucial that adequate capacity building of all stakeholders be conducted, and that the United Nations should provide guidance and support.  Norway said that transnational companies played an important role in development, and the post-2015 agenda should redefine the global partnerships for development, including redefining the role for businesses and the private sector.  Colombia, speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries, said that the guiding principles for the United Nations framework to protect and respect human rights were an important tool to be used by all actors who had the obligation to promote and protect human rights.  The European Union said that it recognized the links between human rights, good governance and sustainable development, and stressed that there was a collective responsibility to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.  Kyrgyzstan said that it proposed a new mechanism for the participation of transnational corporations in global affairs through partnerships with specific countries where the transnational corporations did not operate.  The United Arab Emirates said that the draft resolution on the efforts that needed to be made to combat trafficking in persons in the business world was an important step forward.  Switzerland said that the United Nations and its specialized agencies should use market forces which had a proven positive influence not only on their employees but also on the environment.  Sierra Leone said that the United Nations should be involved in the training and awareness-raising of business officials to help them align business activities with human rights obligations.  Chile said that it was necessary to bridge the gap between businesses and human rights, and the Council had a key role to play in mainstreaming and driving forward the relationship between the two.  The Russian Federation said that it had co-sponsored the relevant resolution and supported all relevant activities.  Efforts to apply the Guiding Principles both in the business world and in civil society should be intensified.  Algeria said that progress should be made in the dissemination and promotion of the Guiding Principles, which should also be included in the post-2015 agenda.  What impact would the principles have on the rights of women post-2015? 

The Canadian Human Rights Commission said that according to the Paris Principles, national human rights institutions had a responsibility to help ensure policy coherence between concerned international, United Nations, civil society and other groups.  Civicus welcomed the debate and endorsed the idea of the business and human rights framework but was sceptical due to the soft language and the voluntary nature of corporate commitment to the human rights agenda.  The International Service for Human Rights said that the Guiding Principles had to be brought into line with the charter on the protection of human rights defenders.

URSULA WYNHOVEN, General Counsel and Head of Human Rights of United Nations Global Compact, said that one of the biggest barriers was the persistent lack of awareness of the practical meaning of human rights by business.  States could demand greater coherence between business and human rights, especially in the area of public procurement.  In the field, local networks could provide one channel for learning, dialogue and partnerships on business and human rights.  The question of a binding mechanism was a question for Governments, but companies could certainly make some positive contributions as well. 

KRISTIN HETLE, Director of the Strategic Partnerships Division, United Nations Women, said that United Nations Women, in the way it worked with business, had seen that the fact that it had to be the top leader that had to sign onto the Guiding Principles and very publicly so, created self-discipline which led to real change in business and created opportunities for employees and civil society that had publicly signed onto the Principles, to hold business accountable.  United Nations Women’s proposed a standalone goal, to achieve women’s equality, rights and empowerments, and target areas had to address the promotion of decent work for women and their access and control to production access, in order to achieve this.

SHIREEN SAID, Senior Policy Advisor on Human Rights in United Nations Development Programme, said that the development agenda was time-consuming and that the business sector wanted quick fixes; this often accounted for the inequitable relationship that development actors had with corporate entities.  Those entities were also better funded.  Corporate reporting obligations did not always amount to a meaningful regard for human rights.  It was imperative for the United Nations Development Programme to manage a “cultural change” in the relationship between rights bodies and business.  With regard to the post-2015 development agenda, it would be important to bring the topics raised in this discussion forward into that process.  The impact of the Guiding Principles had been similar in Latin America and in the Caribbean and it would be useful to take that forward into other regions.

LEILA PAKKALA, Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships at the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, echoed the general points made so far and added the perspective of children into the discussion.  Regardless of contributions to the post-2015 development agenda, it was fundamental to act now, before 2015, so that capacities could be built within the United Nations system and its work with governments.  Resources must be allocated carefully if they were going to be successful in their relationship with business vis-a-vis children’s rights.  As regard the comment from Sierra Leone, there were many examples of good practice to draw on.  Ms. Pakkala said “we are only as good as our actions” as a United Nations family, and as such this system had to be made accountable at least as far as its own targets were concerned.

ELISABETH TUERK, Legal Expert in International Investment Agreements, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, as she saw it, was an organization that could channel business and human rights ideas into a different community, namely in the investment community.  On policy making, it would be important to ensure that the idea of human rights and business made its way into investment policy making and that was very much what the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was trying to do with investment policy makers at the national and international levels.  On international investment agreements, agreements normally gave rights rather than obligations to investments and that was a gap.  However, the debate was on the right ground and bringing the different communities together was one step forward. 

Egypt said that promoting the respect for all human rights was a fundamental purpose of the United Nations Charter and that therefore mainstreaming of human rights into business was relevant.  Australia saw the integration of human rights into business as important and it was a strong advocate of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  Morocco saw this as the right occasion to discuss the role of the United Nations agencies and the initiatives they could take to incorporate the Guiding Principles into the post-2015 development agenda, but said they had to work within their own mandates.

Qatar said that the world was undergoing radical economical changes that the private sector was contributing to, and that thus businesses were called to play new roles in today’s world linked to the responsibilities they had towards society.  Poland said that the complexity of the issue required enhanced coordination of United Nations system initiatives related to business and human rights and Mexico saw a need to coordinate and integrate the work of specialised agencies that worked with the private sector.  United States encouraged the United Nations agencies to build internal capacity to increase awareness and capacity to ensure the implementation of the Guiding Principles.  The adverse impacts on the environment caused by business enterprises at times infringed on human rights and the Maldives hoped that the Panel would recognise this in its report.

Spain was committed to implementing the Guiding Principles and among measures adopted to do this it had developed a National Plan on Business and Human Rights, while Germany said that it had been funding a research project with a focus on mainstreaming the Guiding Principles through national human rights institutions activities.  China said that the international community should also see that enterprises in various countries could also work actively in the promotion and protection of human rights and it hoped that various stakeholders could carry out further studies on how they could do this.  Cuba said that in light of some of the human rights impacts that harmful business practices could have, the international community had to play a key role through the United Nations system, in order to achieve a democratic and equitable order in which human rights were ensured.

Iran said that the recent tragic events in Bangladesh and other similar incidents elsewhere had underlined the need to ensure the human rights of employees, which, unfortunately, many transnational corporations were not willing to do.  Bahrain said that it was crucial to define the nature of the relationship between human rights and business.  The adoption of the Guiding Principles by the Council in 2011 had sent out a clear message about the importance of the matter, although numerous challenges remained.  Indian Council of South America said that it did not agree with the Guiding Principles on business and human rights, which gave more authority to transnational corporations.  Franciscans International recommended that the Guiding Principles be mainstreamed in the United Nations system and especially in the post-2015 framework, placing emphasis on indigenous peoples.      

URSULA WYNHOVEN, General Counsel and the Head of Human Rights at the United Nations Global Compact, in concluding remarks once again drew attention to the activities of the taskforce made up of companies from a variety of sectors and countries in the context of the Global Compact, which, among other things, had developed specific goals and targets working to ensure the successful achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. 

KRISTIN HETLE, Director of the Strategic Partnerships Division at United Nations Women, in concluding remarks said that in several countries there was a two-way process between governments and business coalitions, while dedicated interactive websites were also available to share best practices and experiences and to provide advice.  Some of the most vulnerable employees were women employed individually in other people’s homes.  United Nations Women was carrying out advocacy work in collaboration with other international organizations to draw attention to the problems facing vulnerable employees.     

SHIREEN SAID, Senior Policy Advisor on Human Rights at the United Nations Development Programme, in concluding remarks said that they had to be realistic in managing the cultural change in their engagement with the corporate sector.  A much more robust approach was needed, because the corporate sector was not regulated by international organizations, which meant that managing the cultural change remained a major challenge.  

LEILA PAKKALA, Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships at the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, in concluding remarks said that she hoped that the rights of the child within the business context would be protected as the topic moved forward.  It was important that various instruments were developed, disseminated, implemented and consolidated through collaboration; a coordinated approach between partners was key if lessons were to be learned.

ELISABETH TUERK, Legal Expert in International Investment Agreements at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in concluding remarks said she was inspired by the discussion and that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development could be a channel for further collaboration and offer specific expertise in terms of foreign direct investment flows and policies.  There were numerous opportunities for fruitful continued work.

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