Clustered ID: Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons
Intervention of the United States read by Neha Sheth
UN Human Rights Council – 29th Session
Geneva,
June 16, 2015
Transnational Corporations
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The United States is pleased to support the Working Group on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. We welcome the Working Group’s newest member, Mr. Dante Pesce. We were proud to host the Working Group on an official visit in 2013, and provide input to the Working Group’s work on national action plans.
We also note our continued support for the Guiding Principles, which have made a meaningful difference in raising standards across industry, promoting responsible investment, and encouraging stakeholder collaboration. However, we do not believe that this issue should be addressed by an intergovernmental working group and remain concerned that the working group will unduly polarize the issue and not achieve its stated goal of further promoting business respect for human rights.
Trafficking in Persons
The United States welcomes working with Ms. Giammarinaro again, this time in her capacity as the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. We support her proposed thematic priorities for her tenure, especially the focus on the impact of national regulations and laws on access to civil and criminal remedies for victims of trafficking as well as the role of businesses in combating trafficking in persons in global supply chains. Greater global attention is needed to address the forced labor side of human trafficking and the positive impact businesses can have by preventing human trafficking in their supply chains. On a related note, the United States would like to draw the attention of member states to a side event on June 24 titled “Preventing the Exploitation of Workers During Recruitment: Regulation and Enforcement Models,” at which the International Labour Organization and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime will co-launch the release of their global research and recommendations. The United States funded this research.
Finally, there has been growing international concern about migrants being subjected to human trafficking and related abuses in Africa. Does the Special Rapporteur plan to visit some of the affected source countries in the region during her tenure?