A/HRC/33/42
(d)
Avoid including umbrella clauses in bilateral investment treaties;
(e)
Strengthen their human rights arguments when responding to investorState dispute settlement claims, emphasizing their duty to regulate in order to protect
indigenous peoples’ rights and the corporate responsibility to respect those rights.
Corporate obligations
98.
International investment agreements should:
(a)
Address the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, including
the requirement to conduct human rights due diligence, and to prevent, mitigate and
remedy human rights’ harms in which they may be involved, in particular in relation
to vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples;
(b)
Protect only bona fide investments. If evidence exists of inadequate
human rights due diligence or corporate contribution to indigenous rights harms,
there should be express provisions for the denial of the benefits of investor protection
in terms of access to investor-State dispute settlements through a duty on tribunals to
decline jurisdiction, with mechanisms to vitiate corporate rights in such contexts;
(c)
Require public reporting by corporations in relation to the potential
impact of their operations on indigenous peoples’ rights and measures taken to
prevent and mitigate such impacts.
99.
States should consider:
(a)
Incorporating the provisions of international investment agreements in
relation to corporate responsibility into domestic law to enable their enforcement;
(b)
Developing a mechanism for reviewing corporate compliance with their
responsibility to respect human rights, drawing from existing processes, including
United Nations treaty and charter bodies, OECD national contact points and
international financial institutions’ inspection panels, with a view to ensuring due
weight is given to findings in any related investment dispute claims.
100.
Investors should:
(a)
Operate under the assumption that regulatory frameworks continuously
evolve to progressively realize the human rights of indigenous peoples, as explicitly
required by international human rights law;
(b)
Support the transition toward a model of investment that promotes the
realization of human rights.
Complementary measures necessary to mitigate the impacts of international
investment agreements
101. International and regional human rights bodies should continue to issue
recommendations addressing the responsibilities of home and host States to regulate
corporate behaviour and consider developing general recommendations or advisory
opinions on the responsibility of home States in relation to indigenous peoples’ rights
and the intersection of investment protection and human rights.
102. Home States should adopt and enforce extraterritorial regulation in relation to
the impacts of their corporations on indigenous peoples overseas and ensure they are
held to account for any rights violations, including the denial of protections under
international investment agreements.
22
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