Human rights

Universal Declaration on Human rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, provides an overview of the rights and freedoms every human being is entitled to "without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status".

In 1966 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was complemented by the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (UNCCPR) and the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNCESCR). These covenants clarify that international human rights include civil, political, cultural, economic and social rights, and the right to development.

-readmore-

Women's rights

The key international agreement on women's rights is the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which is also described as the international bill of women's rights. Adopted in 1979 and ratified by 185 UN Member States, CEDAW encompasses a global consensus on the changes that need to take place in order to realize women's human rights. Another important agreement is the UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women, which entered into force 7 July 1954.

Labour

Relevant standards on labour rights are described on the issue page on Labour.

Indigenous peoples

Relevant standards on the rights of indigenous peoples are described on the sector page on Indigenous peoples.

Business and human rights

As an interpretation on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the most comprehensive and authoritative treatment of the human rights obligations of businesses is the United Nations Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights (the UN Human Rights Norms for Business). These norms clarified that transnational corporations and other business enterprises are obliged to promote, protect, respect and secure the fulfilment of human rights "within their respective spheres of activity and influence".

In August 2003, the UN Human Rights Norms for Business were unanimously adopted by the UN Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, but the full UN Human Rights Commission had not yet taken a decision on the norms. To prepare a broader discussion on the norms, John Ruggie was appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on business and human rights in July 2005.

In April 2008, Ruggie presented his report which does not set new criteria, but summarizes all human rights norms that are relevant for companies. Ruggie calls on companies to take responsibility for compliance with these directives, rather than to shift this responsibility to national and international authorities. He proposes a policy framework that comprises three core principles, with the aim of entangling the responsibilities of states and business:

• the State duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business;
• the corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and
• the need for more effective access to remedies.

In June 2008, the Human Rights Council was unanimous in "welcoming" the policy framework for business and human rights that Ruggie proposed in his final report. The Council renewed the mandate for a period of three years with a new resolution tasking the Special Representative with "operationalizing" the framework.The framework is already widely supported.

Ruggie has emphasized that companies can affect the entire spectrum of human rights. Thus, business' responsibility is to respect all internationally recognized human rights, although some may be more relevant than others in particular contexts. Companies at a minimum should look to the International Bill of Human Rights as well as the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Companies might need to consider additional standards depending on the situation.

Ruggie found that relatively very few companies have systems in place enabling them to demonstrate that they respect human rights with any degree of confidence. "What is required is an ongoing process of human rights due diligence, whereby companies become aware of, prevent, and mitigate adverse human rights impacts."

Ruggie has addressed banks' responsibility: "a bank's human rights due diligence for a project loan will differ in some respects from that of the company operating the project. Nevertheless, banks do have human rights due diligence requirements in this context, and human rights risks related to the projects are also risks to the banks' liability, returns and reputation." It is important that banks, as other companies, have internal governance and management system for conducting adequate human rights due diligence.

Security

A more specific issue is the use of force by (private or public) security forces protecting the operations of a company. This issue is dealt with in the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Upon these statements the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights have been developed in a multi-stakeholder process, to give guidance to companies.

Other standards

• OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises;
  The OECD Guidelines provide voluntary principles and standards for responsible business conduct consistent with applicable laws. According to the OECD Guidelines enterprises should respect the human rights of those affected by their activities.
  
  
• UN Global Compact
  UN Global Compact has included two human rights principles among its ten principles:
  
  "Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights"

          "Businesses should make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses".

Regional standards and initiatives addressing a topic of significant importance to that region should also be of a bank's attention. A good example is the Brazilian Pact to Eradicate Slave Labour.

Although banks may not be directly involved in human rights abuses, they can be complicit in human rights violations by companies undermining the rights to life, property, home, health, livelihood and development of communities. This may occur in several ways:

• Direct complicity may occur when a bank intentionally invests in a project or company, while the bank is fully aware that its financial assistance contributes to the commission of the human rights abuses by the company.
• Indirect complicity may occur when a bank profits from transactions with a company committing human rights abuses. Profits can be in terms of financial rewards or market share, but the bank's investments need not be directly related or intended to support to the human rights abuses which take place.
• The notion of silent complicity reflects the expectation that banks should respond to human rights abuses by notifying the appropriate authorities or taking steps to object to and/or try to prevent or stop the human rights violations and/or withdrawing from their association with the abuse. Where banks do not respond, silent complicity may arise.

To avoid these various forms of complicity, banks need clear and detailed human rights standards and policies. These instruments require banks systematically to consider risks to human rights in the operations they support, and to take effective action to mitigate those risks. 

The following elements should be incorporated in a bank's human rights policy:

The bank will only invest in companies that:

• Respect all internationally recognized human rights, but at a minimum the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
• Respect all internationally recognized human rights, but at a minimum the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (UNCCPR);
• Respect all internationally recognized human rights, but at a minimum the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNESCR);
• Pay explicit attention to women's rights, within relevant issues and sectors;
• Respect the (land) rights of local communities and indigenous peoples (see the issue page on Indigenous peoples);
• Respect basic labour rights (see the issue page on Labour). 

The bank will only invest in companies that:

• Respect all internationally recognized human rights, and consider additional standards depending on the situation.
• Provide a adequate Human Rights Impact Assessment of companies for relevant transactions, sectors and countries.
• Make the results of the Human Rights Impact Assessment available to relevant stakeholders to consider their reactions.