New York, United States - The UN Human Rights Council has endorsed a new set of global guiding principles for businesses, designed to ensure that companies do not violate human rights in the course of their transactions. The guidelines also compel companies to provide redress when infringements occur. A UN statement, obtained by PANA in New York on Friday, said the council endorsed the guidelines on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland. It said the document, entitled: 'The Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights', outlined how states and businesses should implement the UN 'Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework', in order to better manage business and human rights challenges.

It stated that the framework was based on three pillars – the state duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business, through appropriate policies, regulation and adjudication.

Others are the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which means avoiding infringing on the rights of others and to address adverse impacts that occur and greater access by victims to effective remedy, both judicial and non-judicial.

The statement quoted John Ruggie, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, as saying that, 'the council’s endorsement establishes the guiding principles as the authoritative global reference point for business and human rights.

'They will also provide civil society, investors and others the tools to measure real progress in the daily lives of people,' he noted.

It also said that the principles were the product of six years of research, led by Professor Ruggie of Harvard University in the US, involving governments, companies, business associations and civil society around the world.

Under the 'State Duty to Protect', the guiding principles recommend how governments should provide greater clarity of expectations and consistency of rules for business in relation to human rights.

The 'Corporate Responsibility to Respect' principles provide a blueprint for companies on how to know and show that they are respecting human rights.

The 'Access to Remedy' principles focus on ensuring that where people are harmed by business activities, there is both adequate accountability and effective redress, judicial and non-judicial.

Pana  18/06/2011