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the implications of its implementation. Chapter II covers the five “foundational
principles” of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which are
the basis for all the “operational principles” of chapter III. These operational
principles elaborate on the policies and processes businesses need to have in
place to ensure that they respect human rights. They follow the same structure
as the Guiding Principles:
A. Policy commitment
B. Human rights due diligence
C. Remediation
D. Issues of context
The Guiding Principles address the issue of remediation both under the
second pillar (the corporate responsibility to respect) and under the third
(access to remedy). Those Guiding Principles on access to remedy that are
relevant to businesses are included here under “Remediation”, for the sake of
completeness. Section D focuses on dilemmas where the operating context of
a business seems to preclude or limit its ability to respect all human rights in
practice.
The annexes contain useful reference material.
THE STATUS OF THIS INTERPRETIVE GUIDE
The formal commentary provided in the Guiding Principles is not reproduced
in this Guide, although it is at times quoted. The questions and answers
provided here go beyond that commentary to provide additional detail and
assistance in understanding the Guiding Principles. As such, they complement
the commentary but do not replace or supersede it.