A/HRC/23/32 institutions.5 The Working Group welcomes the review by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman of the International Finance Corporation of its operational guidelines 6 and the embedding of essential elements of the effectiveness criteria for non-judicial grievance mechanisms included in the Guiding Principles.7 The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has been engaging with States to support and encourage the implementation of the new Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development that uses the Guiding Principles as a key reference. 8 Following the call from the European Union, more than two thirds of the member States of the European Union have or are developing national plans of action on the implementation of the Guiding Principles. 9 The World Bank is currently in the process of updating its safeguard policies, with an opportunity for integrating the Guiding Principles and human rights due diligence into the safeguards.10 6. The Working Group welcomes the positive contribution that key standard-setting international organizations are making to the implementation of the Guiding Principles, and encourages further alignment and convergence. B. Integration of the business and human rights agenda into the work of the United Nations system 7. In September 2012, the Human Rights Council adopted its resolution 21/5, in which it encouraged all relevant entities of the United Nations system to integrate the business and human rights agenda into their activities, with a specific role for OHCHR in this effort. Resolution 21/5 filled a long-standing need to clarify the role of the United Nations and to designate a focal point on the issue within the United Nations. In the resolution, the Council encouraged all stakeholders to integrate the Guiding Principles throughout the work of the United Nations human rights system, including the universal periodic Review, the mandates of the special procedures and the treaty bodies. 8. In its resolution 21/5, the Human Rights Council clearly indicated that the Guiding Principles and the business and human rights agenda concerned the entire United Nations system, not only the human rights pillar. The Council set out a specific role for the United Nations to build capacity and support efforts, including by calling on United Nations resident coordinators and country teams to integrate the Guiding Principles into planning, advocacy and capacity-building and development efforts at the national level in cooperation with national authorities. Recognizing that the need for greater capacity by all stakeholders required levels of resources not currently available within the United Nations system, the Council also called on the United Nations to explore the establishment of a global fund to 5 6 7 8 9 10 4 See www.oecd.org/daf/investment/guidelines. See www.cao-ombudsman.org/howwework/2012OperationalGuidelinesUpdate.htm. The Working Group provided comments on the draft of the new operational guidelines that was submitted for public consultation, including a suggestion to ensure that the grievance process and outcomes be rights-compatible, in accordance with Guiding Principle 31 (f), as well for the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman to exercise leverage with business enterprises to reform policies, standards, management systems or common practices that may be enabling factors or underlying causes of adverse effects. See http://investmentpolicyhub.unctad.org. Statement by European Union Special Representative for Human Rights, Stavros Lambrinidis, at the Forum on Business and Human Rights, 4 December 2012. Available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/ForumSession1/SubmissionsStatements/StavrosLambrini dis.pdf. See www.worldbank.org/safeguardsconsultations.