A/HRC/44/43 III. Using a business and human rights lens to consider corruption: key sectors and contexts 11. In the present section, the Working Group provides an overview of areas where corruption leads to systematic abuse of human rights in the business context, and where steps can be taken to address the associated challenges. This highlights that there are sectors and contexts that merit deeper examination by all stakeholders; there is a need to go beyond “box ticking” and focus on rights holders when addressing business conduct. A. Public procurement and concessions 12. Public procurement – the purchase by governments and State-owned enterprises of goods, services and works and the award of government concessions – is susceptible to corruption, often in the forms of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of functions and pricefixing, cartels and other anti-competitive practices.24 Public procurement, and corresponding opportunities for corruption, may involve multiple sectors. The risks are exacerbated by the volume of transactions, the financial interests at stake and “the complexity of the process, the close interaction between public officials and businesses, and the multitude of stakeholders”.25 Some businesses will pay bribes to win a contract or concession, sometimes following demands from government officials. This may result in States not receiving value for money. In some cases, vital public services key to the realization of human rights, such as health care, education and housing, are partially or not delivered. In Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries, 12 per cent of gross domestic product is spent on public procurement.26 According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), on average, government procurement accounts for 10 to 15 per cent of an economy’s gross domestic product.27 OECD found that 57 per cent of the 427 bribery cases concluded under the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions involved bribe payments connected to public contracts awards.28 13. The State as an economic actor (owner, lender and buyer) has leverage to drive good practice by exercising and requiring due diligence. In line with article 9 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which requires States to take steps to reform procurement processes to prevent corruption, many States require companies to make anticorruption commitments when competing for government contracts or concessions. This is not the same for human rights commitments. The commentary to Guiding Principle 6 of the Guiding Principles clarifies that the State’s duty to protect human rights extends to public procurement and that States have a unique opportunity to promote awareness of, and respect for, human rights by enterprises it conducts transactions with, including through contractual terms. In doing so, States would ensure that they were contracting with enterprises committed to corruption-free, responsible business. Despite some emerging practice, public authorities have not generally operationalized the State’s duty to protect human rights through procurement. B. Land acquisition 14. Weak land governance, where rights to land and natural resources are not properly documented, are weakly enforced or are otherwise not effectively recognized,29 coupled 24 25 26 27 28 29 See www.unodc.org/e4j/en/anti-corruption/module-4/key-issues/corruption-in-publicprocurement.html. See also contributions from Poland and Uganda. See www.oecd.org/gov/ethics/Corruption-Public-Procurement-Brochure.pdf. See www.oecd.org/gov/public-procurement/. See www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gproc_e/gproc_e.htm. See www.oecd-ilibrary.org/governance/oecd-foreign-bribery-report_9789264226616-en. See www.fao.org/3/am943e/am943e00.pdf. 5