Responsible businesses should back guidelines

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Sir, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (Letters, January 20) speaks of wide business support for the new United Nations “protect, respect, remedy” framework for business and human rights and its draft guiding principles. One would expect similar enthusiasm for the current update of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines for multinational enterprises.

The OECD guidelines give expression to all three pillars of the UN framework: the state duty to protect, the corporate responsibility to respect, and access to remedy. Endorsed by governments, they provide recommendations to multinational enterprises for responsible business conduct across a range of areas, including human rights, employment and the environment. Signatory governments are required to establish a complaints mechanism to respond to alleged violations by multinational companies operating within their territory or abroad. Last reviewed in 2000, the update aims to strengthen the relevance and implementation of the OECD guidelines, in light of the UN framework, in particular by upgrading the human rights provisions, broadening the scope and improving the poorly performing complaints mechanism.

Is business playing an active, positive role in the update? Not so far. It has confined its enthusiasm to supporting a strong promotional agenda when what most needs strengthening is the languishing complaints mechanism that continues to deny workers and other victims of corporate-related abuse access to effective remedy. The OECD guidelines are neither “watertight” nor “perfect”, but they’re the best we’ve got. This update provides a once-in-a-decade chance to make them work. Responsible businesses should support the update.


(2010-1-27/ft.com)