Human rights lawyers could be called upon to audit big businesses for possible human rights abuses, if proposals submitted last week to the UN Human Rights Council are endorsed.
A six-year UN-commissioned study on business and human rights has concluded that companies should regularly carry out ‘human rights due diligence’ to ‘identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their adverse human rights impacts’.
Multinationals with operations in conflict zones would be especially in need of expert audit, the study went on to suggest.
Magic circle firms Clifford Chance and Linklaters, and City firm Herbert Smith provided advice and support to the study, which was carried out by Professor John Ruggie, the UN secretary general’s special representative for business and human rights.
Ruggie said that effective remedies for human rights abuses by companies must be available in all UN jurisdictions.
‘Unless states take appropriate steps to investigate, punish and redress business-related human rights abuses when they do occur, the state duty to protect can be rendered weak or even meaningless,’ he said.
‘The failure to enforce existing laws that directly or indirectly regulate business respect for human rights is often a significant legal gap in state practice.
'Such laws might range from non-discrimination and labour laws to environmental, property, privacy and anti-bribery laws. Therefore, it is important for states to consider whether such laws are currently being enforced effectively.’
Ruggie suggested that barriers to judicial remedy arise where the costs of bringing a claim are too high; where government support is insufficient to assist in claims being brought; where there are inadequate class action or collective action procedures; and where state prosecutors lack the resources to investigate business involvement in human rights crimes.
Ruggie said that formal endorsement of his work, which will be considered by the UN Human Rights Council in June, would ensure that businesses know what is expected of them, and would help investors and society measure progress in human rights protection.
He said larger companies’ human rights due diligence would usually require external experts, including lawyers.
‘The more complex the situation and its implications for human rights, the stronger is the case for the enterprise to draw on independent expert advice,’ he said.
The report set down a number of principles that aim to provide an ‘authoritative global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse human rights impacts linked to business activity’.
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