STATEMENT
Joint statement in the ID with the Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Thank you, Mr. President,
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the members of the core group on
Business and Human Rights, Russia, India, Ghana, Argentina and Norway
Several incidents recently underline the urgent need for implementation of the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights, endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011.
States, business, the UN and other players all have a responsibility for addressing violations
of human rights caused by business activities.
We call on business enterprises, governments, civil society, UN programs and entities and
other stakeholders to increase their efforts to eliminate the adverse human rights impacts of
business activities.
We welcome the second report by the Working Group and believe that its timely
recommendations provide important guidance on how the implementation efforts can
accelerate. We agree with the Working Group that there is no single approach to
implementing the Guiding Principles. We share, however, the view that considerable
progress can be made in implementing the Guiding Principles through greater national
coordination and dialogue with relevant stakeholders, particularly business enterprises. We
further believe that states should consider to review their legal and regulatory framework in
order to identify legislative and implementation gaps,
We also agree with the Working Group’s recommendation on the necessity for States to
consult and exchange with other States and the Working Group on experiences, lessons
learnt and share effective practices in implementation of the Guiding Principles.
We note the special emphasis made on the role of the financial sector in the report, and
support the recommendation by the Working Group to states to ensure more efficient
integration of human rights into the policies of public financial institutions, including
multilateral financial institutions.
Moreover, we support the Working Group’s suggestions to business, specifically their
recommendation that policy commitments need to be translated into relevant operational
procedures, the need to identify key sector-specific challenges to implement the Guiding
Principles, including carrying out human rights due diligence, and support collective action
to address these.
We note the reported high number of submissions on alleged abuses linked to business
activities. We support the Working Group’s assertion as to the important and legitimate role
of trade unions, civil society organizations and human rights defenders in raising awareness
of the human rights impacts and risks of some business enterprises and activities.
We believe that it is necessary to give more attention to barriers to access to remedy, and
how to protect victims of corporate human rights violations. It is important to efficiently
scale up the grievance mechanisms set out in the Guiding Principles. This requires more
competence and capacity building both within states and business to enhance access to both
judicial and non-judicial remedy. There is a particular need for guidance on how to address
conflicts between enterprises and indigenous peoples.
Mr. President,
The resolution 21/5, adopted in the 21st session of the Human Rights Council, clearly
underscores the need for a strategic approach to ensure integration of the business and
human rights agenda in the UN system.
We appreciate efforts made by the UN system to integrate the business and human rights
agenda into the future framework, including planning, advocacy and capacity-building
across its engagements. We share the views of the Working Group, however, that the UN
should better coordinate activities related to business and human rights, and increase their
efforts to raise awareness and build the capacity of State authorities and business enterprises
at the national level to implement the Guiding Principles.
The Guiding Principles concern the entire United Nations system, not only the OHCHR.
Finally, we would like to express our great concern that the decision by the Council in
resolution 21/5 (last September) to undertake a feasibility study of a fund for capacity
building has not been followed up due to a lack of budgetary resources. This underscores
how decisions made by the Human Rights Council and mandatory tasks by the OHCHR
depend on voluntary contributions. If Resolutions adopted by the Council are to be fully
implemented, the budget situation and the allocation of funds need to be promptly addressed.
Thank you.
Page 2