Secretary-General Stresses Role of Businesses in Support of Human Rights

 

This is the text of a video message by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Business and Human Rights for National Human Rights Institutions, taking place in Seoul from 11-13 October:

Professor Hyun Byung-Chul, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea; Ms. Rosslyn Noonan, ICC Chair & Former Chief Commissioner, New Zealand Human Rights Commission; Dr. Amara Pongsapich, Chair of the Asia Pacific Forum and Chair of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand; Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen:

I am pleased to greet this important conference.  Businesses have a crucial role to play in supporting human rights and social justice.  They have formidable resources.  They operate in politically sensitive environments.  Their activities have a profound impact on people’s lives and on key global issues ranging from poverty and natural resources to corruption, climate change, conflict and disease.

Our challenge is to make sure that business is not part of the problem — but the source of solutions.  Human rights must be respected at every step of the production chain, from gathering raw materials to taking executive decisions at corporate headquarters.  We have tools that can help make this happen.

The “Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework developed by my Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, sets out guiding principles and was endorsed unanimously by the Human Rights Council.  The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, for its part, continues its dialogue with the private sector on how businesses can have a positive impact.  National human rights institutions have an important contribution to make.

People look to these bodies for protection.  They want to know that those who abuse human rights will be punished, and that the rule of law will prevail.  Let us work together to strengthen national human rights institutions, help businesses flourish and, above all, ensure that people everywhere enjoy the dignity and opportunity that are their birthright.

Thank you.

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For information media • not an official record