Sacom

Closing Governance Gaps:

Application of the U.N. “Protect, Respect, Remedy” Framework

Expert Multi-Stakeholder Consultation

20 January 2010 in Berlin

Hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Organized by InWEnt - Capacity Building International, Germany

The UN “Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework comprises three pillars: the state duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business, through appropriate policies, regulation, and adjudication; the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which in essence means to act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others; and the need for greater access by victims to effective remedy, judicial and non-judicial.

The expert multi-stakeholder consultation on 20 January 2010 in Berlin convened representatives from government, business, and nongovernmental organizations that have already attempted to implement or apply some aspect of the UN “Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework. […]

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Panel III: The application of the framework to the extended enterprise

Panel III explored the application of the framework to the ‘extended enterprise’, meaning business structures such as supply chains and joint ventures, since those forms of business exemplify the governance gaps that can lead to corporate-related human rights abuse. The moderator was Mr Jorge Daniel Taillant, Strategic Advisor for the Center for Human Rights and Environment in Argentina. […]

The third speaker was Ms Jenny Chan of Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) in Hong Kong. Ms Chan explained that SACOM has traditionally used ‘naming and shaming’ techniques to promote corporate accountability, but recently took part in the HP Labor Rights Training Program (without receiving any funding from the company). SACOM’s work is focused in China, where there are long supply chains, 200 million migrant workers, the younger generation of which has been increasingly active in defining fair working conditions — and in doing so is facing fear and intimidation, which makes the role of NGOs like SACOM critical. HP’s Labor Rights Training Program aims to raise worker awareness, for example by improving grievance

mechanisms in HP’s direct suppliers, and using innovative techniques like collective brainstorming and role play. She stressed that workers often have weak or no representation, which needs to be rectified, and that local governments must strengthen enforcement of their own laws — and that collaboration between local governments and factories should be more common than it currently is.

The plenary discussion repeatedly turned back to the generally underemphasized roles of customers and workers; and of the frequent focus in the business and human rights debate of multinational companies and national governments, when in fact national companies and local laws are as if not

more important. One participant, questioning the commercial imperative of addressing human rights deep into the supply chain, asked whether if a tree falls in the forest and your customers don’t know, does it matter; to which another responded that yes, because ten years later there’s still a gap in the skyline. The effectiveness of Global Framework Agreements was mentioned, as was the importance of a company educating its workers no matter where they reside, and of transparency in publicizing information about working conditions.

“Social inclusion of informed workers hold the greatest promise for change.” Jenny Chan

Summary of the consultation: http://sacom.hk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/20100110-multi-stakeholder-consultation-on-business-and-hrs.pdf