UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/8/16 15 May 2008 Original: ENGLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Eighth session Agenda item 3 PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT Clarifying the Concepts of “Sphere of influence” and “Complicity” Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises, John Ruggie* Summary Responding to the request in paragraph 1 (c) of Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/69, which established the Special Representative’s mandate, to “research and clarify the implications for transnational corporations and other business enterprises of concepts such as ‘complicity’ and ‘sphere of influence’”, this companion report to the Special Representative’s 2008 report to the Human Rights Council explains how both concepts fit into the corporate responsibility to respect rights, one of the three principles comprising the strategic policy framework he identified in his 2008 report. The concept of “sphere of influence” is considered too broad and ambiguous a concept to define the scope of due diligence required to fulfil the responsibility to respect, and the Special Representative sets out an alternative approach. In contrast, avoiding complicity is viewed as an essential ingredient in the due diligence carried out to respect rights because it describes a subset of the indirect ways in which companies can have an adverse effect on rights through their relationships. * This document is submitted late to reflect the most recent information. GE.08-13478 (E) 220508