Business and human rights

United Nations Guiding Principles

In June 2011 the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed a set of Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights [136 KB] .

Vice-President Tajani, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, strongly welcomed the approval of the Guiding Principles.

The UN Guiding Principles are organised in 3 “pillars”: the state duty to protect human rights, the corporate duty to respect human rights, and the need for access to effective remedy mechanisms when abuses occur.

They were the culmination of 6 years of work by John Ruggie, UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights.

In January 2011 the European Union issued a statement  [362 KB] on the draft Guiding Principles.

European Commission role

In its CSR policy published in October 2011 [137 KB] , the European Commission points out that improving the coherence of European policies relevant to business and human rights will be a critical challenge.

In 2012 the European Commission will work with enterprises and other stakeholders to develop human rights guidance for three industrial sectors, based on the UN Guiding Principles.
A decision regarding which sectors to focus on will be taken in early 2012.

In 2012 the Commission will also develop human rights guidance specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Commission has committed to publish a report by the end of 2012 on EU priorities for the further implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and to issue periodic progress reports after that.

The Commission has also expressed its expectation that all enterprises should meet the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, as defined in the UN Guiding Principles.
 

Reports published by the European Commission

• Report on the existing legal framework for human rights and the environment [2 MB] .
  In October 2010 the European Commission published a report on the existing legal framework for human rights and the environment applicable to European Union companies operating outside the EU.
  Written by a team from the University of Edinburgh, the report is an important input for the further implementation by the European Union of the United Nations business and human rights framework.
• Study on Responsible Supply Chain Management [4 MB] .
  Correlated with the UN Business and Human Rights Framework, this study focuses on three industrial sectors (cotton, sugar cane and mobile phones) in relation to some key CSR supply chain management issues, trying to identify good practices and challenges.
  This study was carried out for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs.