A/HRC/21/21
funding area in peacebuilding support. The Guiding Principles may also be relevant to the
work of United Nations peacekeeping operations.
(e)
Humanitarian action
56.
With the increasing quantity and range of non-State actors present in humanitarian
action, including post-conflict or disaster construction work, standards for the human rights
responsibilities of business activities are increasingly relevant. The Inter-Agency Standing
Committee and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs should take the
lead in exploring how the integration of the Guiding Principles can ensure coherence and
contribute to reducing the adverse impact on human rights of business activities in
humanitarian situations.
57.
UNEP work in post-conflict and disaster settings, including on environmental
impact assessments and associated capacity-building programmes, provides another entry
point.
(f)
Labour
58.
In addition to existing efforts, there is scope for increased collaboration and
coordination between ILO, United Nations human rights bodies and OHCHR to ensure
alignment between implementation of international labour standards and efforts aimed at
promoting the implementation of the Guiding Principles. The tripartite structure of ILO
provides important channels to reinforce efforts involving States, business and trade unions
to promote implementation of the Guiding Principles. Collaboration could also include
reciprocal efforts to coordinate work at the country level and to establish relations with a
broader constituency.
(g)
Other areas
59.
Notable efforts to integrate the Guiding Principles on work relating to, for example,
children and indigenous peoples, are already being made. Similarly, the Guiding Principles
should also be incorporated into policies and programming in other areas covered by the
United Nations system, such as education, health, HIV/AIDS, women, internal
displacement, housing and migration, which intersect with business-related human rights
issues.
C.
Capacity-building of relevant actors
60.
Lack of capacity among States, business enterprises, national human rights
institutions and other actors in the area of business and human rights has been identified as
a key challenge to ensuring the implementation of the Guiding Principles in practice. 19 This
is also reflected in Human Rights Council resolution 17/4, in which the Council specifically
requested the Secretary-General to identify how the United Nations system as a whole
could address the need for capacity-building of all relevant actors.
61.
Supporting efforts to promote capacity-building among relevant actors is one of the
tasks assigned to the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational
corporations and other business enterprises.20 Given the scale of its task, however, the
19
20
12
See www.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/ruggie/ruggie-special-mandate-follow-up-11feb-2011.pdf.
Human Rights Council resolution 17/4, para. 6 (c).
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