Chapter 5 ungc human rights

1. CHAPTER 5
HUMAN RIGHTSAS ETHICAL IMPERATIVES
FOR BUSINESS
The UN Global Compact’s
Human Rights Principles

2. Human Rights
• Principle 1: Businesses should support
and respect the protection of internationally
proclaimed human rights; and
• Principle 2: Business should make sure
that they are not complicit in human rights
abuses.

3. Human Rights
•Human rights remains one of the most
challenging areas of corporate
citizenship. Why?
•In part, this is because human rights
have traditionally been the concern of
states, and international human rights
law has generally been addressed to
them only.

4. Human Rights
What are “human rights”?
• Those rights that we are said to have
simply by virtue of being human.
• Our most fundamental freedoms, that is,
the freedoms necessary to live a truly
human and dignified life.
• Universal (apply to all humans), equal
(apply to all humans equally), and
inalienable (cannot be revoked or given up)

5. Principle 1: Direct Human Rights
Responsibilities for Corporations
• Business should support and respect the
protection of internationally proclaimed
human rights.
• This is not passive, but direct and active.
As such corporations who sign the GC
pledge to respect human rights on a
voluntary basis even if or precisely when
domestic laws fail to hold them accountable
for it.

6. Principle 1: Direct Human Rights
Responsibilities for Corporations
• Human rights responsibilities of
corporations are primarily moral
responsibilities; corporations have them
irrespective of what the law says.
• It means to engage in a dialogue on the
potential duties and duty-bearers at the
outset, rather than limiting them to
governments.

7. Principle 2: Corporate Complicity in
Human Rights Abuses
• The issue is not merely direct human rights
abuses, but indirect human rights abuses as
well. Indirect abuse:
1. No malicious is needed for a corporation to
become complicit in human rights violations.
2. It is expected that the corporation knows
that its actions may contribute to abuse.
3. Its actions must have substantial (not
indispensible) effect.

8. Principle 2: Corporate Complicity in
Human Rights Abuses
Three types of complicity in human rights
abuse:
1. Direct complicity – occurs if a
corporation directly and actively
contributes to or assists in the violation of
human rights committed by a third party.

9. Principle 2: Corporate Complicity in
Human Rights Abuses
Three types of complicity in human rights
abuse:
2. Beneficial complicity – does not require
active contribution on the part of the
company, but “merely” that that it benefits
from the human rights violations
committed by the third party.

10. Principle 2: Corporate Complicity in
Human Rights Abuses
Three types of complicity in human rights
abuse:
3. Silent complicity – even without benefit
the mere silence or inactivity of a
corporation in the face of human rights
abuses. It’s silence may have a
legitimizing, encouraging, or emboldening
effect on the party that violates human
rights.

11. Principle 2: Corporate Complicity in
Human Rights Abuses
A fourth type of complicity in human rights
abuse:
4. Obedient complicity – occurs when a
business follows laws or regulations of a
government to act in ways that support its
activities that intentionally and significantly
violate people’s human rights.

12. Question
How would you characterize the purchase of
coltan from suppliers who force people from
their homes and villages to get to the
minerals? Is there complicity? If so what
kind?
1. Direct
2. Beneficial
3. Silent
4. Obedient

13. The Center for Constitutional Rights
The Center for Constitutional Rights is
dedicated to advancing and protecting the
rights guaranteed by the United States
Constitution and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by
attorneys who represented civil rights
movements in the South, CCR is a non-
profit legal and educational organization
committed to the creative use of law as a
positive force for social change.

14. The Center for Constitutional Rights
CCR uses litigation proactively to empower
poor communities and communities of color;
to guarantee the rights of those with the
fewest protections and least access to legal
resources; and to train the next generation
of civil and human rights attorneys.

15. The Center for Constitutional Rights
In 1993, CCR sued Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadži ́c for genocide, war crimes
and crimes against humanity. That 1995
victory was the first time that a private
person was held liable for violations of
international law in U.S. courts and
opened the door to extending accountability
for human rights violations to other non-
governmental entities.

16. The Center for Constitutional Rights
Building on that victory, CCR sued the
Unocal oil corporation for supporting slave
labor, murder, rape and forced displacement
of thousands of villagers during the
construction of a gas pipeline in Burma.

17. The Center for Constitutional Rights
Doe v. Unocal established for the first time
that multinational corporations may also
be held liable for human rights violations
when they are complicit in abuses
committed by governments they are
working with. This was also the first time
that a multinational corporation was charged
with complicity in rape as torture.

18. The Center for Constitutional Rights
• Blackwater USA, for firing on Iraqi civilians in Baghdad
• Caterpillar, Inc. for selling D9 bulldozers to the Israel Defense Forces,
knowing they would be used to destroy homes and injure or kill the
inhabitants
• Dow Chemical (amicus) for knowingly providing the U.S. government
with a poisonous agent (Agent Orange) to be sprayed on civilians in
Vietnam
• Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Petroleum on behalf of murdered
leaders and activists in Nigeria suing for human rights abuses against
the Ogoni people
• Talisman Energy, Inc. (amicus) for conspiring to commit human rights
violations, including war crimes, while engaged in oil operations in
southern Sudan
• Titan Corporation and CACI International for conspiring with U.S.
officials to torture and abuse people in U.S. custody in Iraq, including
the detainees at Abu Ghraib

19. What’s Next?
• Two questions with regard to the effectiveness of
voluntary human rights principles:
• First, can the impact of voluntary standards be
more than a drop in the bucket relative to the
global human rights situation?
• Second, can a voluntary code sufficiently level
the playing field so that those companies who are
serious in their commitment will not be put at a
competitive disadvantage relative to the
companies that do not embrace the GC, or who
do so only to bluewash their brand?

20. What’s Next?
The way forward:
• Establishment of a mandatory standard
• A binding and enforceable human rights code
• More institutionalized discourse on business and
human rights is needed
• More emphasis on researching and clarifying the
concept of complicity in regard to corporate human
rights abuse
• Move from respecting human rights, to the duty to
protect human rights, to remedy human rights
abuses

22. 22
Positive drivers for business
Why do [should] businesses want to respect and
promote human rights?
• It’s ethically the right thing to do
• It helps companies to build a positive reputation with
communities, investors, shareholders, governments, media.
• It improves the business climate
• It helps to secure the local
‘social licence to operate’
• It may help to access new
business in-country or elsewhere
• New and current employees prefer
companies that respect human rights
From IPIECA Human Rights Training Toolkit for the oil and gas industry

23. 23
Negative drivers for business (1)
What are the potential risks of ignoring human rights issues?
• Legal: litigation and ensuing penalties
• Reputation: long term damage
to company’s image
• Political: damage to relation-
ships with host and home governments
• Operational: increased security
risks for personnel, community
members and property;
disruption to operations; delays on
completion of new projects
• Financial: impacts from operations disruptions of late project
completions; inability to secure funding for new projects; potential
share price impacts
From IPIECA Human Rights Training Toolkit for the oil and gas industry

24. 24
Negative drivers for business (2)
• Allegations of ‘complicity’
can lead to legal
proceedings as well as
reputation damage
• Example: your company is
accused of using security
providers that are proved to
have infringed human rights,
or suppliers that use child or
forced labour or infringe
upon their employees’ rights
From IPIECA Human Rights Training Toolkit for the oil and gas industry