New report shows how states can put corporate responsibility for human rights in motion

As the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva prepares to take new actions on the question of how to make businesses more accountable for their human rights impacts, a major report released Monday gives guidance on what states themselves should do to promote better corporate human rights practices. Concretely, the report outlines how to do a so-called National Action Plan for business and human rights.

The report is the result of a joint project of the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), a U.S.-based coalition of organizations working to ensure corporate respect for human rights, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), Denmark’s national human rights institution.

- How to make our economies more sustainable is the question of our time. Bringing corporate conduct in line with people’s human rights is a critical part of that. This report signals a significant step forward in understanding how governments can and should follow through on the commitments they have made to secure that goal, said Claire Methven O’Brien, Special Adviser at DIHR.

- There’s great interest in this report and the tools it provides, both from governments and civil society, and we’re already engaging with a range of organizations who plan to use the report to promote dialogue and policy reform in their own countries, O'Brien said.

Expert insight

The report reflects insights from hundreds of experts so that states and other organizations can learn what works, and what does not. The goal of the report is for the public and private sectors, no matter the country, to work together to protect human rights.

- This report establishes new guidelines to help national leaders and administrations integrate respect for human rights into corporate cultures, said Amol Mehra, Director of ICAR.

The report establishes new guidelines to help national leaders and administrations integrate respect for human rights into corporate culture by developing National Action Plans (NAPs) on business and human rights - a key measure called for by the UN Human Rights Council in a resolution passed on June 26.

- Our project identified a strong consensus across world regions and across stakeholder groups: people want their governments to step up to the plate and implement commitments made on corporate accountability for human rights, said Mehra.

- And they see an inclusive national process, involving businesses along with civil society organizations, affected communities, and other states, as the best way of securing that goal.

10 key points for a good National Action Plan

A state, through or in connection with its National Action Plan (NAP), should:

1. Clearly identify and publicly communicate leadership and ownership of the NAP development and implementation process within the government;
2. Devise and publish terms of reference and a timeline for the NAP process;
3. Allocate adequate resources to the NAP process, from beginning to end;
4. Ensure effective participation by all relevant stakeholders through stakeholder mapping and capacity-building and by ensuring participation by disempowered or at-risk stakeholders;
5. Begin its process by conducting a national baseline assessment of the government’s current implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and relevant frameworks, and base the content of the NAP on the results of this baseline assessment;
6. Address the full scope of the UNGPs within the NAP, as well as the full extent of the State’s territory and jurisdiction;
7. Articulate action points (i.e. commitments) within the NAP that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-specific;
8. Implement a NAP process that is fully transparent, includes publication of drafts of the NAP, and provides public summary reports of any stakeholder engagement;
9. Identify who is responsible for the implementation of individual action points within the NAP and overall follow-up;
10. Map a framework for the monitoring of and reporting on implementation of the NAP once published.