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Q1: Your profile states you are a member of the UN Working Group on
Business and Human Rights. What is that working group?
A1: The UN Working Group on the Issue of Human Rights and
Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (to give its
full title) is the body of five experts, appointed by the United Nations
Human Rights Council to advise the Council, Member States and other
stakeholders on the implementation and dissemination of the United
Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Q2: What is your role in that working group?
A2: My role as a member is to contribute to the Human Rights Council
mandate to
a)
Provide guidance and advice concerning the dissemination and
implementation of the UNGPs
b)
Identify, exchange and promote good practices and lessons
learned on the implementation of the Guiding Principles and to
assess and make recommendations thereon;
c)
To provide support for efforts to promote capacity-building and
the use of the Guiding Principles, as well as, upon request, to
provide advice and recommendations regarding the development
of domestic legislation and policies relating to business and
human rights;
d)
To conduct country visits and to respond promptly to invitations
from States.
Q3: Why was the working group formed? Please give us a brief
background.
The Working Group was formed to operationalize the standards set out
in the UN Guiding Principles which were endorsed by the UN Human
Rights Council in response to persistent concerns about adverse human
rights impacts in the activities of business enterprises.
Before the appointment of the UN Working Group, the United Nations
had devoted considerable attention to the development of workable
standards to respond to adverse human rights impacts caused by
business enterprises.
Q4: When you say “business”, does it cover all kinds of business?
A4: Yes it (the Guiding Principles) applies to all business enterprises,
regardless of size, sector, ownership or structure.
Q5: And by human rights, what are those?
A5: The human rights referred to in the UN Guiding Principles include
internationally recognized human rights understood to include, at a
minimum, those expressed in the International Bill of Rights and those