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Summary: On 16 June, the Council endorsed a new set of Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights designed to provide - for the first time - a global standard for preventing Guiding Principles adopted On 30 May, during the 17th session of the Human Rights Council, Professor John Ruggie, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises, presented his report which was followed by an interactive discussion. On 16 June, the Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles for the Implementation of the United Nations 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' Framework. The new standards outline how States and businesses should implement the Framework in order to better manage business and human rights challenges. In responding to the Council's endorsement, Mr Ruggie said : "The Council‟s endorsement establishes the Guiding Principles as the authoritative global reference point for business and human rights. They will also provide civil society, investors and others the tools to measure real progress in the daily lives of people." Strong criticism from NGOs Read the full statement, here. Missed opportunity On 16 June, Human Rights Watch responded to the Council's endorsement saying it had failed to put in place a mechanism to ensure that the basic steps to protect human rights set forth in the Guiding Principles are put into practice. Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director at Human Rights Watch, said: "In effect, the council endorsed the status quo: a world where companies are encouraged, but not obliged, to respect human rights. Guidance isn't enough - we need a mechanism to scrutinize how companies and governments apply these principles." CRIN's children's rights perspective Back on 31 January, CRIN submitted comments on the draft Guiding Principles, expressing disappointment in the lack of attention to children. The statement read: "As the Guiding Principles are now drafted, it is difficult to imagine that they could provide any meaningful direction for States and business enterprises seeking to “protect, respect and remedy” the human rights of children. Children are particularly and uniquely vulnerable to human rights abuses, and yet are also least able to draw attention to violations of their rights. The draft Guiding Principles do not appear to recognize either of these realities". CRIN will be reacting to the adoption of the Guiding Principles in the coming days. What next? On endorsing the Guiding Principles, the Council decided to establish a Working Group, which will consist of five independent experts with a balanced geographical representation. The experts, who will take on the role for a period of three years, will be appointed at the 18th session of the Human Rights Council, which will take place from 12 - 30 September this year. An update on this process will follow shortly! Further Information
and addressing the risk of adverse impacts on human rights linked to business
activity.
In a joint civil society statement issued on 15 June, NGOs highlighted three main shortcomings in the draft resolution of the Guiding Principles: