A new report outlining existing instruments and available options for States to meet their duty to ensure corporations are not contributing to human rights violations was presented on Monday 3 December at the United Nations in Geneva.
The report is a result of the “Human Rights Due Diligence Project”, which CIDSE supported by organising the Latin America regional consultation in Peru last October.
Over the past year, a group of experts (Mark Taylor, Professor Olivier de Schutter, Robert Thompson and Professor Anita Ramasastry) brought together by the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) and the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA), has examined the issue of how States meet their duty to protect through using their regulatory authority to encourage or mandate human rights due diligence behaviour by corporations. Their examination was informed by private consultations with over 50 lawyers, practitioners, and representatives of civil society from each continent.
CIDSE contributed to the project organising the Latin America regional consultation in Lima, Peru, with partner organisations working with communities and indigenous peoples facing rights violations and criminalisation of social protest in the context of extractive industries .
The report offers the interpretation of existing instruments and available options for States to meet this duty. It was launched early December at a side event of the U.N. Forum on Business and Human Rights, with a Keynote Address from Member of European Parliament Mr. Richard Howitt.
CIDSE attended the Forum with a delegation of representatives of the CIDSE Secretariat, member and partner organisations. Felipe Burgueño of CEREAL (Mexico) and Victor Ricco of CEDHA (Argentina) spoke at panels on “Access to non-judicial remedy” and “The role of global governance framework” respectively. Aldo Caliari from CIDSE’s US member Center of Concern spoke at a panel on “The role of the finance sector in advancing the Guiding Principles”.
Contact:Denise Auclair
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