arises from a global standard of expected conduct that is often reflected in national laws and
regulations.58 The Guiding Principles set forth a number of foundational and operational
principles concerning the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Specifically,
foundational Principles 11 and 12 are relevant to the Carbon Majors and the impacts of their
global operations:
Foundational Principle 11: Business enterprises should respect
human rights. This means that they should avoid infringing on the
human rights of others and should address adverse human rights
impacts with which they are involved; and
Foundational Principle 12: The responsibility of business
enterprises to respect human rights refers to internationally
recognized human rights.59
These Principles recognize that the corporate responsibility to respect human rights
applies to virtually the entire spectrum of internationally recognized human rights, including
those expressed in the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the main instruments
through which it has been codified: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, coupled with the principles
concerning fundamental rights in the eight ILO core conventions as set out in the Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.”60
As discussed in the Interpretive Guide, all businesses must not only comply with national
laws and regulations incorporating international human rights standards, but also with a global
standard of conduct:
In many cases the responsibility of enterprises to respect human
rights is reflected at least in part in domestic law or regulations
corresponding to international human rights standards….The
responsibility to respect human rights is not, however, limited to
compliance with such domestic law provisions. It exists over and
above legal compliance, constituting a global standard of expected
conduct applicable to all businesses in all situations. It therefore
also exists independently of an enterprise’s own commitments for
human rights.61
Corporate responsibility to respect human rights is also recognized when cases of
violation of the environmental rights are allowed to be brought aginst corporate entities, among
58
Guiding Principles, supra note 24, at principle 11 at 13. See Sharan Burrow, Sharan Burrow’s Speech to the 2014
United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, Dec 2, 2014, http://www.ituc-csi.org/sharan-burrow-sspeech-to-the-2014?lang=en (last accessed June 16, 2015).
59
Guiding Principles, supra note 24, at principles 11-12 at 13-14..
60
Id. at 14.
61
Interpretive Guide, supra note 25, at 13-14. .
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