A/HRC/38/48 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 2 May 2018 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-eighth session 18 June–6 July 2018 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises Note by the Secretariat The present report, prepared pursuant to Council resolutions 17/4 and 35/7, examines the duty of States to protect against human rights abuses by business enterprises to whom they provide support for trade and investment promotion. It explores how States can incentivize business respect for human rights in this context, including through withdrawal of trade and investment support in situations where businesses fail to meet their corporate responsibility to respect human rights. GE.18-07001(E) 