Cultural Rights, a restatement and interpretation of legally binding standards in
international law by 40 international experts, including current and former UN
Special Procedures and human rights treaty body members.4
I.
International Law Requires States to Protect Human Rights from
Abuse by Private Actors and to Exercise Jurisdiction over the
Conduct of Businesses that Constitutes Human Rights Abuse
Authoritative interpretations of international and regional human rights treaties by
their respective treaty monitoring bodies and courts make clear that States have a
duty to protect against human rights abuses within their territory or jurisdiction,
whether committed by State or non-State actors, including businesses.
Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to
which the Philippines is a party, requires States to “respect and ensure… the
rights recognized” in the ICCPR, and to “take the necessary steps in accordance
with its Constitutional processes….to adopt such legislative or other measures to
give effect to the rights recognized in the…Covenant.” 5 In addition, State Parties
must “ensure that any person whose rights or freedoms…are violated shall have
an effective remedy” and “ensure that any person claiming such remedy shall
have his right thereto determined by competent judicial, administrative, or
legislative authorities.”6 In its authoritative interpretation of this article and the
general obligation of States parties under the ICCPR, the UN Human Rights
Committee, the supervisory body for the ICCPR, has affirmed that the duty to
ensure rights extends to the duty to protect. The Committee has clarified that
State Parties to the ICCPR must protect individuals from acts committed by
private persons or entities which would impair the enjoyment of rights contained
in the ICCPR, including appropriate measures or exercising due diligence to
prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private
persons or entities.7 In considering State Party compliance with the ICCPR, the
Human Rights Committee has called on State Parties to “set out clearly the
expectation that all business enterprises domiciled in its territory and/or subject to
its jurisdiction respect human rights standards in accordance with the Covenant
throughout their operations” as well as to “take appropriate measures to
4
De Schutter et al. Commentary to the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 34, 2012, p. 1084, also available at
http://www.etoconsortium.org/nc/en/main-navigation/library/maastricht-principles/?tx_drblob_pi1%5BdownloadUid
%5D=63 (accessed 11 November 2016). The sixth member of the drafting group of the Principles, Margot A. Salomon,
was on leave during the finalisation of this amicus.
5
UN General Assembly, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations,
Treaty Series, vol. 999.
6
Id.
7
UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 31: nature of the general legal obligation imposed on states parties to
the covenant, UN Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev1/Add.13, 26 May 2004, para 8.
3