A/HRC/29/28
Principles serve as a framework to guide efforts at the national level in this respect. The
Working Group will also dedicate parts of the 2015 Forum on Business and Human Rights,
in November, to engage key stakeholders in a dialogue on these issues.
2.
Financing for sustainable development
65.
The Guiding Principles should also be referred to in the context of the third
International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held from 13 to 16 July
2015, which is expected to play a key role in the follow-up to the post-2015 agenda.
66.
The zero draft of the outcome document of the above-mentioned conference
includes a number of encouraging and important references to the promotion of more
responsible business conduct in the overall context of financing for development, including
the need for businesses to commit to and apply principles for socially and environmentally
responsible investment and business activities; complementary national regulations,
including for the protection of labour rights, and environmental and health standards;
mandatory integrated reporting for large companies; “coherence checks” on the sustainable
development goals by relevant international institutions, private rule-setting bodies and
international and national development finance institutions, with a view to aligning their
business practices with sustainable development objectives, inter alia through assessments
of their impact on the enjoyment of human rights, including indigenous peoples’ rights; and
progress towards gender equality.
67.
While all of these references are welcome contributions to a strengthened
international governance framework, the outcome document should be more fully aligned
with international standards referencing the Guiding Principles. It should reaffirm the clear
benchmarks relating to the State duty to protect human rights in the context of business
activities, the business responsibility to respect human rights and the need for affected
individuals to have access to effective remedies. There should be scope for doing so, and a
suggested policy idea in the “elements” paper for the conference, contained under the
heading “strengthening the sustainable development impact of investment”, is to implement
the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, core labour standards of the
International Labour Organization and relevant environmental standards, with enforcement
and accountability mechanisms.56
68.
Further improvements could be made by adopting the considerations outlined above
with regard to regulatory action and recommendations regarding corporate reporting.
B.
Beyond the post-2015 framework
1.
Role of the United Nations Development Programme
69.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has a particularly important
role among agencies in the United Nations system in supporting global efforts towards
sustainable development, and can play a key role in scaling up action on the Guiding
Principles. UNDP has supported implementation of the Guiding Principles in various ways.
The Working Group encourages further efforts along at least two strategically important
dimensions.
70.
First, UNDP is uniquely placed to promote national action plans on business and
human rights and support the relevant national authorities and national human rights
institutions in initiating an open, inclusive process to develop action-oriented plans by
56
18
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