United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“Guiding Principles”) which were unanimously endorsed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in June 2011, affirm that business enterprises have a responsibility respect human rights, and that States have a duty to ensure that they do so. The Guiding Principles make clear that “the responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights refers to internationally proclaimed human rights – understood as those expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the principles concerning fundamental rights set out in the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.” The Guiding Principles also clarify that the duty to protect against human rights abuses requires States to take “appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish and redress such abuse through effective policies, legislation, regulation and adjudication.”