Legal and Policy

The Guiding Principles for the Implementation of the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework (“GPs”) mark the evolution of the extensive body of work undertaken by the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises, Prof. John Ruggie.  The GPs present recommendations on how to operationalize the ‘Protect, Respect [...]

The Business and Human Rights Legislation Survey presents pending and current legislation impacting business and human rights issues in the United States.  The Survey considers various pieces of legislation detailing the relevant obligations created by them and their impact on business and human rights.

Business and Human Rights Survey

By Shannon Mackenzie Orr
When the Supreme Court announced its cases for the current term, legal scholars and journalists were quick to note the Court’s corporate-heavy docket. As previously reported by Right Respect, most of the current attention is focused on FCC v. AT&T, a case that could drastically increase the privacy rights of corporations by [...]

The OECD Guidelines are often considered the most comprehensive multilateral corporate responsibility instrument in existence to date.  Based on recommendations for responsible business conduct, they cover ten major policy areas including human rights, supply chain management, labor relations, environmental, anti-corruption, competition taxation and consumer interests.  Essentially recommendations providing voluntary standards for responsible business practice in [...]

The following joint submission, made by Human Rights Advocates and Right Respect, communicates our endorsement and support for the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers. The pdf letter of support is available here.
CoC Support – HRA and Right Respect

1.    Need for International Accountability
Right Respect and Human Rights Advocates present this report to the Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the rights of peoples to self-determination (“Working Group”). We commend the efforts of the Working Group towards articulating a list of [...]

1.    Background on the Code of Conduct
Building on the conclusion of the “Montreux Document” and the emerging consensus on the need to fill normative and accountability gaps through a coordinated industry-driven private military and security companies (PMSCs) standard setting process, the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs has partnered with the Geneva Center for the Democratic [...]

The following report is a joint submission coordinated by Right Respect:
U.S. foreign policy relationships and assistance to Colombia, Haiti and Puerto Rico have
resulted in human rights violations in those countries.  For 10 years, Plan Colombia, a
U.S. aid program to the Colombian government, has been in effect.  Until 2007, 80 % of
the $6.7 billion has been [...]

This paper addresses residual problems in the current free trade paradigm. The paper focuses on the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement with regard to the Agreement’s labor provisions in Article 19. Alternatives are proposed in response to remaining issues in the US-Korea Agreement, including the status of Outward Processing Zones and a problematic lack of private firm accountability. Regardless of approach adopted, an expansion of cooperative efforts with the International Labor Organization as an independent monitoring and reporting body is advocated and encouraged. The goal of the paper is to provide information and insights for stakeholders come the next round of free trade negotiations.

This report highlights the current reality of the use of private military and security companies (PMSCs). Our four-prong analysis will begin by bringing the relevant issues to light. Next, our analysis will explain the legal and policy landscape, including international humanitarian law and human rights law applicable to the use of mercenaries and PMSCs. Third, our analysis will build off of stakeholder contributions, including the Montreux Document and the industry led Code of Conduct. Lastly, our analysis offers alternatives and solutions to progress the dialogue and ensure that human rights are given the right respect in business decisions.