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Oral Statement by Mr. Pavel Sulyandziga
Working Group on the issue of human rights and
transnational corporations and other business
enterprises
23rd session of the Human Rights Council
Geneva, 30 May 2013
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Mister President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The recent tragedy in a garment factory, where over one thousand one hundred persons, a
majority of them young women workers, died in a horrific accident, was preventable, as the
Working Group recently outlined in a press release1. It was the result of multiple systemic
failures by many actors to address human rights risks that were known to all. It could have
been prevented by taking specific actions to prevent and address the risks. This disaster is
only the most recent and tragic example of the kinds of negative impacts on human rights
linked to business activities. One can pick up a newspaper any day and find other examples.
As you are well aware, the mandate that this Council has given us focuses on the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights, which set out a global standard to prevent and
address negative impacts, and lay out clearly the distinct but complementary duties of States
and responsibilities of business enterprises in this regard. This of course does not mean that
the Working Group does not fully recognise that the private sector can and does contribute
very significantly and positively to sustainable social and economic development as well as
the achievement of key human rights standards. But to quote from the Guiding Principles,
business supporting and promoting human rights “does not offset a failure to respect human
rights throughout their operations.”
As you can see from our annual report (A/HRC/23/32), the Working Group has received
numerous allegations over this past year, from around the globe. Alleged negative impacts on
individuals and communities include forced evictions, negative impacts on food, health,
water, and housing, negative impacts on the freedoms of assembly and expression, lack of
decent working conditions, disappearances, arbitrary detentions, threats, violence, including
violence against women, and killings, often targeting human rights defenders and those who
protest against the activities of companies. The allegations that we received were linked to
the activities of a broad range of industries, though an important number were linked to the
mining, energy, and financial sectors.
A significant number of such alleged negative impacts appear to disproportionately affect
indigenous peoples and local communities who live near or depend on land or natural
resources that are being extracted or otherwise used for commercial purposes. It is for this
reason that the Working Group has undertaken to submit a thematic report to the General
Assembly this year, addressing the application of the Guiding Principles in the context of
business operations that impact on indigenous peoples.
The Guiding Principles provide a roadmap for both States and companies to take concrete
steps to prevent and address adverse impacts on human rights, and the Working Group is
pleased to have received information about implementation efforts by several stakeholders.
The Working Group heard of many such examples during the first Forum on Business and
Human Rights that took place in December, where many of you were present. The Working
Group also carried out a survey of both States and companies, to build a solid baseline of data
on efforts to implement the Guiding Principles, as well as to understand the lessons learned
1
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13309&LangID=E
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from initial efforts and strategies and remaining challenges to deepen effective
implementation. I encourage you to review closely both the summary of the Forum
proceedings as well as summary of the findings of these surveys that are attached to our main
report.
You will hear more about the Forum proceedings during a presentation of the summary next
week under item 5 of the agenda of the Council. I take this opportunity to thank those
governments who contributed additional funds to allow for a very ambitious and
comprehensive agenda for the first annual Forum which attracted over 1000 participants from
over 80 countries. I strongly encourage all of you to attend the 2nd Forum this year, which
will take place on 2-4 December in Geneva. And for those of you based in Latin America and
the Caribbean, you are all warmly invited to join us in Medellín, Colombia, from 28 to 30
August, for the first regional Forum on Business and Human Rights, which will focus on
regional experiences, initiatives, and challenges in this field. The proceedings and discussions
from the first regional Forum will feed into the global Forum in December.
We have already extensively referred to global governance frameworks as well as regional
organisations, international organisations including the United Nations system, and national
human rights institutions in our previous reports. It is encouraging to have observed and
heard during the Forum, about the further alignment between such frameworks and the
Guiding Principles and the work of regional and international organisations and that of
national human rights institutions in this field. Through their own governance and
accountability mechanisms, they can exercise leverage both in raising awareness as well as in
getting member States and companies to take concrete actions to effectively implement the
Guiding Principles, including on access to effective remedy.
Through the survey, we found out that some States have integrated the Guiding Principles
into their policies, and that several countries are designing national action plans or other
strategy documents setting out how they will implement the Guiding Principles. Some States
have undertaken initiatives in specific industries or sectors as a matter of priority, either at a
national level, or through international multi-stakeholder processes. Other countries have
encouraged or required company reports on what actions they have taken to minimise human
rights risks at home and abroad, either more broadly, or in specific contexts. Some
international financial institutions, Government procurement departments, and export credit
agencies are also elaborating procedures to condition loans and guarantees, as well as
purchases to companies carrying out human rights due diligence. Various countries have
undertaken efforts to ensure that different Government departments coordinate their work,
though our survey highlighted that more could be done to include human rights provisions in
Government policies to promote business activity and in particular foreign exports and
investment.
Through our direct engagement as well through the business survey we have also heard from
companies on their awareness and implementation of the Guiding Principles. We were both
struck and encouraged by the sheer diversity of respondents, with both public and private
companies of all sizes, from all regions and in different industries telling us how they are
addressing human rights in their operations and through their business relationships. The
survey also provided us with important findings on where companies are facing challenges in
implementation. While many companies indicated that they had human rights policies and
procedures in place, only a few companies seemed to track the effectiveness and impact of
such procedures in preventing and addressing human rights impacts, nor did they use
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information from grievance procedures to address gaps in their procedures. Companies also
struggled to understand the exact scope of their responsibility where they are linked to
adverse human rights impacts through their business relationships including in their supply
chains. Additionally, companies had difficulties identifying proven methodologies to assess
human rights impacts, dealing with situations where they have limited leverage over business
partners, addressing impacts when local laws and practices were not aligned with
international standards, and multiple challenges in building effective grievance mechanisms.
Once again, it was very important for us to gain an understanding of where companies are in
terms of implementation, where there are interesting initiatives and good practices, and where
the challenges are, so that we can tailor our work and our activities to address these.
An example of one such activity by the Working Group to address existing challenges is a
workshop that we recently held in Toronto, where we brought together over 60 experts and
stakeholders from all regions to map current practice in operational level grievance
mechanisms, exploring the content and elements of effective remedy, and the
complementarities between different such mechanisms.
Mister President,
In October last year, at the invitation of the Government, the Working Group visited
Mongolia, our first formal opportunity to explore in detail a specific situation and how to
better address adverse business impacts on human rights in one country. We thank the
Government of Mongolia for the hospitality and cooperation extended throughout the mission,
as well as the UN Country Team, the Mongolian National Human Rights Commission as well
as representatives from all key stakeholders for their invaluable contributions to the mission.
Through our engagement with all stakeholders, we identified both positive initiatives as well
as challenges, which you can read about in more detail in our report on the visit. Our main
conclusion was that there are ample opportunities to put the Guiding Principles in practice to
address some of the challenges that we identified, including the need to clarify further the
respective roles and responsibilities of Government and business in addressing human rights
impacts; ensuring the participation of those impacted by business activities in key decisions
that affect them; ensuring closer collaboration between business and the Government on
issues of collective business impacts; ensuring better integration of human rights
considerations as well as more effective application of laws relevant to business; increasing
the capacity of local and national Government to effectively monitor and enforce business
compliance with relevant laws and regulations; and finally increasing the access to remedy
for those negatively impacted by business activities.
This year the Working Group visited the United States in April, and we will be visiting
Ghana in July and the Russian Federation in October. We will report to this Council on the
three visits in June of next year.
While the main duty and responsibility to implement the Guiding Principles is with States
and with companies, other stakeholders have a very important role to play.
Human rights defenders, civil society organisations, trade unions, community organisations,
are often at the forefront of facing the consequences of negative human rights impacts of
business activities, as well as fighting for accountability for such impacts and remedy for
affected individuals and communities. The Working Group recognises these brave
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individuals and groups who despite the risks continue in their efforts and make a critical
contribution to secure better protection, respect, and remedy for business related human rights
violations. In the report before you, the Working Group calls on States and companies to
work to better protect human rights defenders and support them in their work, and allow them
to raise concerns about business activities without jeopardising their safety and human rights.
The Council held a Panel discussion during this session on the role of the UN system in
advancing the business and human rights agenda, with a focus on the integration of the
Guiding Principles within the post-2015 agenda. I encourage you to ensure that the post-2015
framework including the Sustainable Development Goals, reflect and are appropriately
aligned with the Guiding Principles and the respective duties and responsibilities of States
and business to prevent and address negative business impacts on human rights.
Mister President,
One year ago my colleague Margaret Jungk stood before the Council and outlined the
Working Group’s strategy and programme.
A year later, I am now standing before you, and I have outlined some of the activities that the
Working Group has undertaken to implement this strategy and further its mandate, the
evidence that we have collected both on negative impacts as well as on initiatives to address
them, and the trends that we have observed with regards to dissemination and implementation
of the Guiding Principles.
While there have been many positive initiatives, the challenges, as you have seen, remain
immense. Many States and business enterprises are still not aware, or have not yet begun to
walk the road of implementation. And many who have begun are facing challenges on
different aspects of the implementation of the Guiding Principles. Effective remedy is still
elusive for a very large majority of persons and communities who suffer adverse impacts in
the context of business activities, and those that push for such remedy, still face very grave
human rights violations.
The Working Group has in its report identified a series of concrete recommendations for
States, business, the United Nations system, intergovernmental and regional organisations to
address these challenges. I urge you to carefully consider and implement these.
The Working Group stands ready to multiply its efforts to raise awareness, to provide
guidance, and to bring stakeholders together to share good practices and lessons learned, and
to identify solutions to remaining challenges.
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