The UN Guiding Principles – Opportunities, Challenges - One Year Later

The framework developed by John Ruggie and his team and the adoption one year ago of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (GPs) was a turning point in the debate on the responsibilities of business to society. The credibility of the GPs is that they are based on universal human rights standards, that they articulate the respective roles of governments and business and include an understanding of the need for remedy. 

However, that credibility is also based on process; extensive consultations over several years by the Special Representative with the icing on the cake being the intense work on the update of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. As the discussions continued, the logic of the framework became more compelling and gained authority. Once the basic ideas and relationships were understood in the consultation process, participants got “a little bit pregnant”. It was too late to simply reject the concepts out of hand.

One year later, there are many places where discussion continues. And, although there is no longer the discipline of deadlines as there was in the years leading to the GPs, their future will be determined by a combination of principles and process.

There remains considerable work to be done to get people to understand the GPs. It is a complicated thought process; the end result of which is a realisation that they are fairly simple. At the same time, most participants in the discussions leading to the GPs, whether they would admit it or not, probably had to make a real mental effort in order to understand the concepts.

The GPs need to be explained to new audiences in a manner that is simple without being simplistic. That is true for companies at all levels and for their business partners. It is also true for those who are company interlocutors. In order to help trade unions understand the GPs, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) prepared a briefing note for trade unionists. It is also available in French, Spanish, and German. Some Global Union Federations are already having discussions with multinational companies on how existing or new global framework agreements can help perform human rights due diligence more effectively as well as reaching into various kinds of business relationships with other firms.

The EU is preparing Guides in three sectors and for small and medium-sized enterprises. Some companies are also engaged in a process of explaining the GPs to their management. Many more efforts to promote the GPs are needed. The commitment by governments to the GPs and their promotion is also important, not just because it communicates information, but because it communicates expectations.

The promotion of the updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by governments of adhering countries will also help build understanding of the GPs, since the concepts were so central to their revision in 2011. That is a good beginning, but it is only a beginning. There are many ways in which governments at national, regional, and international levels can inspire respect for the GPs in addition to more effectively carrying out their obligations to protect human rights. The best way to ensure that businesses take the GPs seriously is for governments to do so.

After one year, it is far too early to get impatient. Things are happening and the process is continuing. It is important that companies get it right and resist the temptation to spruce up their existing CSR programmes by splashing a little due diligence here and there.

Internal discussions and engagement with others can lead to an approach that is much more promising and effective than what has been done in the past. That does not mean that everything that has been done is worthless. However, human rights due diligence on negative impacts and potential negative impacts is quite different from what has become habitual in most companies. The GPs need to be fully understood and due diligence processes put into place with a minimum of distractions and diversions.

Even after people become comfortable with the concepts, making the GPs real inside companies, in workplaces, and in communities will never become routine. There are many things that are simply not “checklistable”. As Albert Einstein said, “Not everything that counts can be measured. Not everything that can be measured counts.”

Making the GPs real must engage human intelligence. And, they need to be applied with common sense. Governments should protect human rights. Of course. Companies should respect human rights. Of course. And, remedies need to be available if that is to happen. Of course.

Taking the GPs seriously at all levels and liberating a little thought and creativity should make the GPs something that is integrated into thought processes and behaviour. But, our experience has shown that fine words often run amuck when they run up against questions of power.

We see that every day when it comes to trade union rights; the right of workers to form and join unions and engage in collective bargaining. Respecting those rights means that workers will have some role in shaping their lives, have a say in their destinies and gain the dignity that comes from having that power. The same is true for many other human rights; respecting rights often means accepting a shift in the balance of power.

Although it may have become unfashionable to say it, protecting and respecting human rights and freedoms are intimately linked with democracy; something that remains a revolutionary idea in much of the world. And, who knows, if we continue down the path of seeking to strengthen the observance of human rights, democracy may gain support all the way from the streets of Tunisia and Burma to corporate boardrooms, regardless of whether or not one can make a “business case” for it.