A/HRC/26/20
large range of issues relevant to the business and human rights agenda, which include rights
at work, social dialogue and collective bargaining, and occupational safety and health.
44.
Through its Helpdesk for Business on International Labour Standards, ILO provides
information and tools for managers and workers interested in aligning corporate policies
and practices with international standards, including the ILO Declaration on Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work. An updated leaflet issued by the ILO Helpdesk refers to the
Guiding Principles.
45.
A particularly noteworthy ILO intervention involves Bangladesh, where ILO
facilitated a tripartite action plan on fire safety for the ready-made garment sector. Early in
2014 the ILO-International Finance Corporation Better Work Programme was also
launched in Bangladesh.
46.
Collaboration between ILO and human rights mechanisms, including OHCHR,
could be further strengthened to ensure alignment and bring clarity to the relationship
between the Guiding Principles and national legislation and ratified ILO conventions.
Further collaboration at the country level to reinforce capacity could also be explored.
F.
Development
47.
The Secretary-General has previously recommended that the United Nations
Development Group should take the lead in advancing integration of the Guiding Principles
into global development efforts, through the human rights mainstreaming mechanism
(A/HRC/21/21 and Corr.1, para. 46).
48.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) already supports States in
their efforts to ground national development programmes and policies in human rights, in
particular by focusing on the principles of non-discrimination, participation and
accountability and collaborating with national human rights institutions. There is, however,
a need to explicitly integrate the business and human rights agenda into UNDP activities
designed to foster economic growth and private-sector development, to prevent and
mitigate potential negative impacts.
49.
In that respect, current work in UNDP to mainstream human rights provides
important channels for the integration of the Guiding Principles. For example, the
Programme and Operations Policy and Procedure require that all prospective private-sector
partners undergo environmental, social and governance screening, using the UNDP risk
assessment tool, which includes criteria relating to the rights of indigenous peoples.
Furthermore, in 2013, UNDP launched the Global Initiative for Extractive Industries for
Sustainable Development. Through the initiative, UNDP will support capacity-development
for national governance of extractive industries through, inter alia, facilitating and
convening dialogues on extraction with affected populations, especially indigenous peoples,
the private sector and Governments. That offers an important entry point for the Guiding
Principles.
50.
The World Bank, and its private-sector lending arm, the International Finance
Corporation, provide other important avenues for advancing the business and human rights
agenda. The Corporation has already incorporated elements of the Guiding Principles into
its social and environmental Sustainability Framework. The current review of the World
Bank’s social safeguard policies offers an opportunity for integrating key elements of the
Guiding Principles to prevent and mitigate the risk of negative human rights impacts in
relation to the Bank’s lending activities.
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