CSOs and social movements before Human Rights Council today: Ruggie’s Guiding Principles unsuitable for addressing corporate human rights abuses
Human rights organizations and social movements unite in their rejection of the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”, presented to the Human Rights Council today by Mr John Ruggie.
A formal statement distributed to all country embassies and missions in Geneva, and delivered in an oral address before the Council, calls on members not to accept the Guiding Principles on the grounds that they are inadequate for defending human rights against corporate abuses.
Organizations and movements including Alianza Social Continental, FIAN International, Habitat International Coalition (HIC), Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Transnational Institute and La Via Campesina request that the provision of suitable principles and the adoption of binding regulations for transnational corporation (TNC) operations should be included in a follow-up mandate by the Council.
They also suggest that the Council establish its own complaints procedure for victims of human rights violations committed by TNCs.
Human rights organizations and social movements have repeatedly drawn the attention of Mr Ruggie, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Business and Human Rights, to the failure of the draft Guiding Principles to address the governance gaps created by globalization.
They have highlighted the absence of clear recommendations consistent with international standards in the Principles, which also fail to stress the shared obligations of home and host countries of TNCs to prevent and remedy abuses.
“TNCs have to be held legally accountable for the human rights abuses for which they and their affiliates are responsible,” insisted Ana Maria Suarez Franco, representative of FIAN International, in her statement to the Council.
The formal statement emphasizes that TNCs frequently use voluntary mechanisms as public relations vehicles to disguise and distract from their actual human rights performance.
The involvement of the UN in such mechanisms is a threat to the credibility of the organization. The draft guiding principles carry similar risks when they rely on voluntary action by business rather than on binding international and national regulations enforced by States.