European Commission Selects Three Sectors for New Guidance on Business & Human Rights

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry announced in January 2012 that the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) together with Shift had been selected to develop sector-specific guidance on the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which forms part of the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The UN Guiding Principles were endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011.

The European Commission identified the development of this guidance as one of the priority actions in its recent communication on corporate social responsibility.

On 14 February 2012 the Commission announced that the employment and recruitment agencies sector, the information and communication technology (ICT) sector and the oil and gas sector will be the focus of the year-long project and ultimate guidance. Together, the sectors face a wide range of significant human rights challenges that could benefit from detailed guidance focused on the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Guidance to be developed under the project will also have added value to businesses from other sectors facing similar human rights related issues.

The selection of the three sectors for the project was based on objective criteria and rigorous analysis carried out by Shift and IHRB throughout January 2012, including through a public consultation where careful consideration was given to submissions made by companies, industry federations, NGOs and private individuals.

The guidance developed through this project will be based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and will address the particular contexts and challenges faced by each of the three sectors in implementing the corporate responsibility to respect human rights.

Extensive consultations with all concerned stakeholder groups are planned as part of the project process, and IHRB and Shift are coordinating this process on behalf of the European Commission. Updates on the project, including drafts of relevant documents, will be posted to the website as they occur.

Any organisations or individuals wishing to submit comments or questions in relation to the project can email sectorguidance@ihrb.org.