Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group on Transnational Corporations
As Delivered by James Bischoff, Legal Adviser, U.S. Mission Geneva
on Behalf of 50 States
at the 47th Session of the Human Rights Council
June 28, 2021
Members of the Working Group,
I’m delivering this statement on behalf of the United States and 49 other States.
We thank the Working Group for its report. The UNGPs created a common understanding of the duties of governments and responsibilities of businesses through the three-pillar framework. To highlight a few achievements:
- Protect: Over 50 States have adopted or are developing National Action Plans and many have adopted laws to strengthen accountability, including on due diligence, supply chain transparency, and environmental protection.
- Respect: A growing number of businesses are integrating human rights considerations into business management and conducting human rights due diligence based on the UNGPs. Corporate benchmarking and reporting have generated a “race to the top” toward stronger protective frameworks.
- Remedy: States have created new mechanisms to ensure access to remedy where business operations have adversely affected human rights, and businesses are increasingly developing operational-level grievance mechanisms and remediation processes. The Working Group and OHCHR have produced a robust body of best practices.
As the Working Group acknowledges in its report, one key factor behind the wide acceptance of the UNGPs has been the multistakeholder dialogue that led to their development and that has characterized their implementation. The success of efforts to build upon them in the next decade will depend upon maintaining this approach.
Question: What suggestions does the Working Group have for ensuring genuine multistakeholder input in future efforts to build upon the UNGPs?
Signatory States as of June 28, 2021:
1. Albania
2. Argentina
3. Armenia
4. Australia
5. Austria
6. Belgium
7. Brazil
8. Bulgaria
9. Canada
10. Chile
11. Croatia
12. Cyprus
13. Czech Republic
14. Colombia
15. Denmark
16. Estonia
17. Finland
18. France
19. Georgia
20. Germany
21. Ghana
22. Greece
23. Guatemala
24. Hungary
25. Iceland
26. Ireland
27. Italy
28. Japan
29. Latvia
30. Liechtenstein
31. Lithuania
32. Luxembourg
33. Malta
34. Mexico
35. Netherlands
36. Norway
37. Poland
38. Portugal
39. Republic of Korea
40. Romania
41. Singapore
42. Slovakia
43. Slovenia
44. Spain
45. Sweden
46. Switzerland
47. Ukraine
48. United Kingdom
49. United States of America
50. Uruguay