EU envoy: Human rights beneficial for businesses

‘COUNTRIES with a higher degree of respect for human rights have [better], more sustainable economic growth rates, and higher levels of human development.

Alongside governments and civil society, businesses play a significant role in promoting human rights, having the ability to drive equality not just in the work place, but in the community. By providing quality employment opportunities, they support the advancement of social and economic rights.”

These elements were discussed recently at the “Business and Human Rights: Challenges and Opportunities” symposium organized by the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in the Philippines, in coordination with the University of Asia and the Pacific during the celebration of Human Rights Day. The gathering focused on human rights in the corporate sector, which highlighted the United Nations’ (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the Philippine context.

Ambassador Luc Véron of the EU delegation emphasized the corporate sector’s huge responsibility in the area of human rights, as he underlined the opportunities respect of human rights can bring for business.

“Sometimes we hear that human-rights advocacy would stand in the way of trade and investment. Nothing could be more wrong. I have met many investors who confided that poor governance and subpar access to justice—a context in which individual and collective rights are ignored or insufficiently protected—[are some of] the most powerful business inhibitors. In other words, human rights are good for business,” Véron expounded. ”In our age of transparency and people power, there is a clear reputational benefit for companies who abide by high [global] human rights and environmental standards. For most companies, if not all, brand value is among their most important assets, and human-rights violations could strongly damage that value,” he added.

According to the delegation, the EU supports the international approach outlined in the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which stresses that states not only have the duty to protect human rights, but companies also are responsible to respect them, including in their global supply chains.

The bloc ascribes to multilateral instruments in the responsible conduct of human rights anchored on the business sector’s compliance with international standards on human rights in the work place.

Due diligence

“NOWADAYS a company that tolerates human-rights violations in its operations, whose business model even relies on—for example, forced labor—is not… sustainable… also in the economic sense, it has no business case,” said Philipp Dupuis, minister-counselor and Trade Section head of the EU Delegation to the country. He discussed EU policies and initiatives on business and human rights.

In the symposium, Dupuis stressed the need for companies to exercise human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate and address human rights risks in their own operations or in their supply chain.

“Human rights due diligence obligations in recent EU legal initiatives apply to European companies. However, they can have an indirect effect on operators abroad because EU importers will have to exercise the obligation down their supply chain,” the minister-counselor explained.

“Human rights are also part of the wider EU foreign policy through its trade initiatives,” Dupuis explained. “For instance, the trade and sustainable-development chapters of EU free-trade agreements contain commitments to ratify and [roll out] core International Labour Organization conventions, and to promote responsible business practices.”

PHL: ‘Uniquely placed’

MEANWHILE, Signe Elneff Poulsen, senior human rights adviser at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, said that to build on the progress made in the 11 years since the adoption of the Guiding Principles and address hurdles, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights is implementing the UN Guiding Principles “10+” project that will take a deeper look at the progress so far, and to prepare a roadmap for the next decade for states and business.

”With the initiative to develop a national action plan, the Philippines is uniquely placed to contribute to, and benefit, from such a roadmap,” Poulsen said. “The adoption of a National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights in the Philippines will be a critical milestone.”

“Only through [everyone’s joint action—including the UN, governments, human-rights defenders, labor unions and other civil-society actors, and by leveraging on] the influence of business committed to advancing human rights—do we have the best chance at tackling urgent global challenges, and achieving a more sustainable future for all,” she further stated.

Atty. Jacqueline de Guia, who is the executive director of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), urged all sectors to align with the vision of the commission: ”I hope that you join us in our vision that corporate social responsibility should not be mere philanthropy,” as she called for self-regulation, and urged sectors to heed the call for climate action.

”The CHR, as the premier and independent national human rights Institution of the Philippines, is your partner in advancing business and human rights in the country,” the official said. “The different government instrumentalities, civil society organizations, the private sector, and the academe are also… collaborators to further [boost] the advocacy on the responsible business conduct and operationalization of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the country. Only when we work together and share our learnings across our sectors can we move forward.”