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.62 Corporate responsibility to respect human rights is also recognized in cases involving the violation of the environmental rights brought against corporate entities, among other private individuals and entities, in accordance with the Philippine Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases. The adjunct rights to a balanced and healthful ecology and to health guaranteed by our Constitution are included in the complete concept of human rights based on the exchange between Commissioners Bennagen and Nolledo during the deliberations of the 1986 Constitutional Convention and their importance is explained in Oposa v. Factoran.! 2. The investor-owned Carbon Majors have breached their responsibilities to respect the rights of Filipino people and communities by directly or indirectly contributing to current or future adverse human rights impacts through the extraction and sale of fossil fuels and activities undermining climate action. With respect to the manner in which companies should respect these rights, Foundational Principle 13 of the Guiding Principles provides that business enterprises are required to: (a) Avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, and address such impacts when they occur; [and] (b) Seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts.63 As such, there are three scenarios in which a company can be responsible for adverse impacts on human rights: (1) it may cause impacts through its own activities; (2) it may contribute to impacts through its own activities, either directly or through some outside entity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 62 63 Interpretive Guide, supra note 25, at 13-14. . Guiding Principles, supra note 24, principle 13 at 14. ! 26! ! ! ! ! !

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