Safeguarding human rights from business conducts

In today's world, business enterprises have the potential to positively impact millions of lives around the world. However, people's human rights may also be violated by their actions if the proper mechanisms are not in place. Currently, there is a steep rise of allegations that business enterprises frequently transgress an array of human rights, including labour rights, the right to health and safety at work, etc. Additionally, there is a growing concern regarding the rights to privacy and freedom of speech of employees in the private business sector.

However, international instruments relating to human rights strongly emphasise safeguarding citizens against abuses of their rights, even from those committed by third parties such as business enterprises. Particularly, the International Bill of Human Rights, which comprises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, established the United Nation's (UN) "respect, protect, fulfil" paradigm to prevent human rights violations by the ratifying states.

Important to note, international human rights law framework was traditionally indifferent towards the subject of human rights violations by business enterprises, at least up until 2011. In 2011, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a new document called the "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights" in response to flagrant human rights violations perpetrated by business conducts globally.

This instrument was primarily adopted to implement the UN "Respect, Protect, Remedy" framework as the principles are underpinned by the obligations of States to protect human rights, businesses to respect human rights, and victims' rights to get effective remedies. In fact, this is the first attempt to create a worldwide standard for preventing and dealing with the negative impacts that business enterprises pose through their business conducts.

As previously indicated, the States must protect their people against human rights violations perpetrated by any entity, including business entities. Although States are not accountable for non-State actors' violating human rights, they must nonetheless enact domestic laws that effectively prevent, punish, and address such violations. Most significantly, the guiding principles place an independent responsibility on business enterprises to respect internationally recognised human rights and principles, such as those listed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (principles 11, 12). The principles also impose direct responsibility on the business enterprises to adopt all precautionary measures to identify, avoid, and mitigate negative impacts on human rights through their activities— also known as the human rights due diligence (principles 13, 17).

If, however, business enterprises identify that they have negatively impacted human rights, they have to cooperate with domestic legal procedures of the State they are situated in, to provide an effective remedy (principle 22). Additionally, the principles require business enterprises to respect the applicable laws in case of human rights violations in all contexts (principle 23). Despite all these attempts, if any business enterprise causes human rights abuses through its business conduct, States have to take appropriate measures to provide effective remedies to those affected (principle 25).

The above-mentioned discussions provide us with a clear message that human rights, as enumerated in the International Bill of Human Rights are inalienable and even third parties, such as, business enterprises, have to respect these rights. States are obligated to ensure that business enterprises, too, refrain from engaging in any acts that can potentially have a detrimental effect on those rights. Until appropriate measures are taken domestically and globally to ensure compliance of business enterprises, human rights of people can never be fully protected.

The writer is law graduate, Jahangirnagar University