A/HRC/37/39 international law, as settlements are widely recognized by the United Nations and the international community as being illegal. 58. Some companies indicated that they had no knowledge or control over the actions of other entities with which they had business relationships, such as distributors, partners or other entities in their value chains, and therefore they should not be held responsible for any harm caused by those entities. 59. According to the Guiding Principles, the responsibility of businesses to respect human rights extends to their business relationships. Guiding Principle 13 states that businesses are responsible for preventing or mitigating adverse human rights impacts directly linked to their operations, products or services through their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to them; this includes impacts caused by both actions and omissions.47 The responsibility to conduct due diligence – and in the occupied territory this involves enhanced due diligence (see para. 37 above) – entails taking active steps to identify and assess any actual or potential adverse human rights impacts made as a result of business relationships. 60. Furthermore, in its report, the fact-finding mission stated that business enterprises conduct their activities in the settlements with “the full knowledge of the current situation and the related liability risks” and “contribute to their maintenance, development and consolidation” (A/HRC/22/63, para. 97). V. Recommendations 61. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urges all businesses with which OHCHR has been or may be in contact in carrying out its mandate under Human Rights Council resolution 31/36 to cooperate with OHCHR with a view to engaging in constructive dialogue. 62. The High Commissioner acknowledges with appreciation the extension granted by the Human Rights Council for OHCHR to implement the mandate under resolution 31/36. Recognizing that this was the first time OHCHR has been tasked with such a mandate, the High Commissioner is satisfied that significant progress has been made. However, while the dialogue with concerned business enterprises is continuing, the work remains ongoing. For the High Commissioner to update the database as required by resolution 31/36, more resources are required. 47 16 Commentary to Guiding Principle 13.

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents