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law, emphasizing and specifying the human rights responsibility of business enterprises.
The responsibilities of corporations regarding human rights are further expounded
in the following: 1) the UNGP-BHR; 2) the United Nations Global Compact; and
3) the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Guidelines for
Multinational Corporations. Article 29 of the UDHR is instructive regarding the human
rights obligations of everyone in general. It provides that:
Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free
and full development of his personality is possible.
In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be
subject only to such limitations as are determined by law
solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and
respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting
the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare
in a democratic society.
These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the
purposes and principles of the United Nations. (Emphasis supplied)
It is clear from the UDHR that the obligation to respect rights and freedoms is applicable to
everyone, not just States. Hence, the UDHR speaks of the general obligation of everyone,
including corporations, to respect human rights
1. The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights
Under the UNGP-BHR
The UNGP-BHR now embodies the global standard of practice expected of States
and businesses with regard to business and human rights.395 Its key elements have
been accepted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
the European Union, the International Organization of Standardization, the
International Finance Corporation, the Human Rights Commission of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the General Assembly of the Organization
of American States, and the African Union, as well as by scores of individual states
395
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, The Corporate Responsibility to
Respect Human Rights: An Interpretative Guide, U.N. Doc. HR/PUB/12/01 (2012), at 1 [hereinafter
UNGP Interpretative Guide].
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