A/HRC/21/21
Human Rights has been asked to take appropriate action to promote and support the
embedding and integration of the Guiding Principles into the United Nations system,
in cooperation with the secretariats of the Chief Executive Board and system-wide
coordination mechanisms, including through the human rights mainstreaming
mechanism and other key entities identified in the present report.
94.
United Nations Resident Coordinators and country teams should take the lead,
where possible in collaboration with OHCHR, to ensure coordination on business and
human rights and the integration of the Guiding Principles into planning and
advocacy efforts at the national level. Joint efforts to engage national human rights
institutions and Global Compact local networks would make an important
contribution to the promotion of the business and human rights agenda and the
Guiding Principles.
95.
Ongoing efforts focused on standard setting, advocacy and engagement with
relevant stakeholders should be strengthened, and the business and human rights
agenda and the Guiding Principles should be further integrated into all parts of the
United Nations system, as identified in the present report and in ways that are
consistent with their respective mandates.
96.
Functions for providing uniform guidance and clarification on issues relating to
the interpretation of the Guiding Principles within the United Nations system should
be institutionalized with OHCHR as focal point, in collaboration with the Working
Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business
enterprises. This would further enhance the consolidation of capabilities to support
capacity-building and coordination efforts.
97.
To address the significant capacity gaps with regard to business and human
rights, the United Nations system should support capacity-building of relevant actors.
98.
The business and human rights agenda and the Guiding Principles should be
integrated into capacity-building for United Nations staff where relevant. Training
modules and material towards that end should be developed in full alignment with the
Guiding Principles and integrated into learning and capacity programmes for staff
members and senior managers, including those facilitated by the United Nations
Development Group.
99.
Besides addressing internal capacity needs, the United Nations system should
support capacity-building initiatives directed at Government agencies, business
enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises and their representative
bodies and networks, national human rights institutions, non-governmental
organizations, trade unions, human rights defenders active in the context of business
operations, and other stakeholders, particularly individuals and groups that are
especially vulnerable to adverse impact arising from business activities.
100. An important contribution to support the sharing and management of
knowledge on business and human rights would be to explore the establishment of a
global database to keep track of the implementation of the Guiding Principles by
States and enterprises and their application by other stakeholders, as well as the scope
for using existing platforms.
101. Considering the scale of the capacity-building challenge and the resource
implications of meeting it, the feasibility of establishing a global fund on business and
human rights linked to the United Nations, with multi-stakeholder engagement,
should be considered. The primary purpose of such a fund would be, both within and
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