consequence, States must take measures to “prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused … by private persons or entities.”227 The State duty to protect the human rights invoked by the Petitioners – to life, to health, to food, to water, to sanitation, and to housing – from corporate violations, is well-established in the interpretative work of UN treaty bodies and UN special procedures, and in international jurisprudence. 228 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): The ICCPR Article 2 requires States to “respect and to ensure … the rights recognized” in the ICCPR, and to “take the necessary steps, in accordance with its constitutional processes … to adopt such laws or other measures as may be necessary to give effect to the rights recognized in the … Covenant.” 229 The UN Human Rights 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, among other measures, to investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities. 230 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR): The ICESCR, in Article 2(1), requires States to recognize the rights found within the convention by all appropriate means, particularly through the adoption of legislative measures. Article 11 of the ICESCR articulates a State’s duties in regards to protecting an adequate standard of living for its people. It provides that “States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.”231 The language in Article 11(1) particularizes for the rights to food, clothing, housing, among others, the general obligation found in the above-referenced Article 2(1) of the ICESCR. The CESCR articulated and expanded on the duty to protect, including its general comments on the right to food, and the right to water. Regarding the right to food and the duty to protect, the CESCR affirmed the obligation of the State to respect, protect, and fulfill this right. This duty to protect includes the duty to protect against abuses by third parties, which includes businesses. States have a positive obligation to protect against human rights abuses by private actors occurring within their territories under international treaty law. 232 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): State Parties to the CRC have an obligation to safeguard the rights of children under their jurisdiction. 233 The Committee on the Rights of the Child has elaborated on State obligations under the CRC to regulate the private 227 United Nations Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31 [80], The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States parties to the Covenant, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13, ¶ 8 (2004). 228 See APF & GANHRI brief, at ¶ 42, n. 2. 229 Amicus curiae brief submitted by Maastricht Principles Drafting Group, p. 3, https://businesshumanrights.org/sites/default/files/documents/Submission_Maastricht%20Principles%20drafting%20group.docx [hereinafter Maastricht Principles Drafting Group brief] (citing ICCPR, supra note 65). 230 Maastricht Principles Drafting Group, at p. 3 (citing UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 31: nature of the general legal obligation imposed on states parties to the covenant, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev1/Add.13, ¶ 8 (May 26, 2004)). 231 Maastricht Principles Drafting Group brief, at p. 4 (citing ICESCR, supra note 72, at Art. 11). 232 Maastricht Principles Drafting Group brief, at p. 4 (citing ICESCR, supra note 72; UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 12: The right to adequate food (Article 11), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1999/5, ¶ 15 (May 12, 1999); UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15: The right to water (articles 11 and 12), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2002/11, ¶¶ 23-24 (Jan. 20, 2003). 233 Maastricht Principles Drafting Group brief, at pgs. 7-8 (citing Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nov. 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3 [hereinafter CRC]). 48