businesses impact human rights wherever and however they operate. These impacts can be positive or they can be negative. These days, companies are global — and that means their impacts are too. Companies operate in poor countries, in post-conflict countries, in countries where the local government is unable or unwilling to enforce its own laws. With all this complexity, it's not always clear who's responsible for preventing companies from violating human rights. Is it the company's fault for paying less than a living wage? Or is it the government's fault for setting the minimum wage below the poverty line? Victims of corporate human rights abuses find themselves trapped between two actors who have no interest in making things right. In 2011, the United Nations issued a set of principles that define the responsibilities of governments and businesses for solving this dilemma. So what do these principles say? There's three pillars. The first says that governments have to make sure that businesses don't violate anyone's human rights.

that means passing laws that prevent human rights violations, but also making sure those laws are implemented. Some of the world's largest multinational corporations are owned and operated by states. The Guiding Principles say that the government has to prevent human rights violations by businesses, even if the state itself is acting like one. The second pillar says that businesses have to refrain from violating human rights wherever and however they do business. That means it's not enough for companies to simply follow the law where they operate or audit a few of their suppliers. Even in countries where the government doesn't take up its own duty, companies have to know their human rights impacts and take concrete steps to improve them. The guiding principles don't offer any loopholes. Companies are responsible for all human rights. Doing things like building a school or digging a well doesn't get them out of their basic responsibility not to make their workers and communities worse off. Companies have to perform human rights due diligence.

That means talking to the people whose lives they might be affecting. Like the government responsibility, respecting human rights isn't a switch that companies can turn on and off. It's a continuous process. The third pillar of the Guiding Principles is about what happens when something goes wrong. If a company abuses human rights, governments have to make sure that the court system or some other legitimate process allows victims to file a complaint and that the complaint is investigated and settled. Companies have this obligation too. Part of human rights due diligence is allowing people affected by the company to file grievances and participating in processes to make them right. Whatever route they choose, remedy mechanisms should fit with the effectiveness criteria defined by the Guiding Principles. If the court system is slow, or it costs too much money, or it's far away, it doesn't count. So that's what the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights say. So why are they important?

First, the principles were unanimously approved by the UN Human Rights Council. Since then, they've been endorsed by governments and business actors all over the world. Before, we argued over who was responsible for preventing human rights abuses by companies. Now, thanks to the UN Guiding Principles, we know who's responsible. That means that, instead of arguing over the rules, we can get to work implementing them.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: An Introduction

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: An Introduction

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