A/HRC/23/32
2.
Corporate responsibility to respect
44.
The Working Group notes the initiatives shared during the Forum with regard to
implementing the business responsibility to respect, and identifies as priorities the need:
(a)
To support efforts for collective action within industries to identify key
sectoral challenges, and to develop high-quality sector-specific awareness-raising and
implementation tools;
(b)
To provide more tools and support networks for “champions” (namely,
individuals within companies that want to advance in the implementation of the corporate
responsibility to respect human rights);
(c)
To support “safe” spaces for peer learning and for companies to be able to
engage openly with each other and other stakeholders to discuss and address challenges.
45.
The Working Group also notes the challenges faced with regard to implementing the
corporate responsibility to respect, and identifies as priorities the need to collect and
disseminate evidence of practice and issue guidance on:
(a)
The operationalization of corporate human rights policies and human rights
due diligence in different industrial sectors;
(b)
Effectively tracking responses and establishing accountability mechanisms
(c)
Addressing non-compliance by business partners and other actors linked to a
company through business relationships, including by exercising leverage;
(d)
rule of law;
Implementing the Guiding Principles in contexts with weak governance and
(e)
Ensuring that corporate efforts address the full range of normative standards
underpinning the Guiding Principles, including standards of the International Labour
Organization (ILO).
The Working Group further notes the challenge for companies in finding adequate human
rights expertise and training.
3.
Global governance frameworks
46.
The Working Group notes the key role of global governance frameworks in
requiring or encouraging the implementation of the Guiding Principles by States and
business enterprises. Embedding the Guiding Principles within such governance
frameworks is a key component of the strategy of the Working Group, which welcomes the
integration of the Guiding Principles into several global governance frameworks, including
the United Nations system, other intergovernmental bodies including regional
organizations, and private and multi-stakeholder initiatives.24 The Working Group stresses
the need:
(a)
To increase convergence between the Guiding Principles and other global
governance frameworks;
(b)
To develop further the performance and effectiveness of grievance
mechanisms based on such frameworks, such as the National Contact Points of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Compliance Advisor
Ombudsman of the International Finance Corporation;
24
12
See, inter alia, A/HRC/20/29 and A/67/285.
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