ISHR Director Phil Lynch explores the role, responsibility and interest of business when it comes to supporting human rights defenders and protecting civil society space.
This is an edited version of a speech delivered to a Business Briefing and Reception on 16 November 2015 at the Mission of Canada in Geneva
By Phil Lynch, Director of the International Service for Human Rights
I have long held the view that harnessing the enterprise, creativity, innovation and resources of business is one of the most effective ways to promote and protect human rights.
Just over 15 years ago, one of the first matters I worked on as a junior lawyer with Allens Linklaters in Melbourne was to incorporate a pet foster care service for women fleeing domestic violence. The lack of accommodation options for pets was forcing many women to remain in dangerous homes. The motivations of the firm were largely altruistic, but there was a business case for such work too – Access Economics calculates that domestic violence cost the Australian economy some $14 billion in 2009.
Fast forward to 2015, and I am no longer the lawyer but the client. Leading global law firms DLA Piper and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer both provide substantial pro bono support to the International Service for Human Rights. Their work helps to strengthen the legal protection of human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, anti-corruption campaigners and pro-democracy activists at the national and international levels. Again, the motivations of the firms include altruism, together with a genuine commitment to access to justice, but again there is also a business case for such work. Both corporations and human rights defenders have a shared interest in an environment which respects the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and is characterised by transparent and accountable government, freedom from corruption, and respect for the rule of law.
As Nicolas Patrick of DLA Piper and Owen Larter of Microsoft recently wrote in an opinion piece for ISHR, ‘our collective experience certainly supports the belief that businesses thrive in communities that are rights respecting’. What is more, they say, ‘human rights defenders are crucial in fomenting rights respecting communities. It is therefore in our own self-interest as global businesses to support programmes which strengthen respect for human rights defenders and the rule of law across the globe.’
Regrettably, the operating environment for defenders is becoming increasingly restrictive and dangerous in many countries in which corporations, including major multinationals with corporate policies on human rights, increasingly operate and invest.
Azerbaijan, China, Honduras, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates all immediately come to mind. In each of these countries, human rights defenders are criminalised for their work and routinely detained, disappeared and even killed in connection with their exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
The situation for defenders working in the field of business and human rights is particularly precarious. In fact, UN Special Rapporteur Michel Forst recently reported to the UN General Assembly that they are among the most vulnerable and at risk groups in the world. Stigmatised and defamed in India as ‘anti-development’ or as ‘economic saboteurs’, murdered in Honduras for protesting the Agua Zarca Dam, or vexatiously prosecuted in Angola for exposing corruption in the diamond industry, these defenders are often caught between authoritarian governments and irresponsible business.
So what is responsible business to do?
I would suggest that there is a spectrum of actions for companies to take; some are legal obligations arising from the Guiding Principles and international law, others are good business practice and the right thing to do.
I would group these actions under four key categories:
For our part, ISHR is working to encourage and capacitate defenders to engage constructively and positively with business, recognising the vital contribution that responsible business can make to the promotion and protection of human rights and to sustainable development. With the expert advice and assistance of Allens Linklaters and DLA Piper, we have therefore drafted and are at this Forum launching a ‘Human Rights Defender Toolkit for Promoting Business Respect for Human Rights’. The Toolkit, written for defenders with the insight of business, and replete with good practice examples from companies around the world, will be, we hope, a contribution to strengthening understanding, trust and relationships between business and human rights defenders.
I’d like to conclude by emphasising once again that the key elements of a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders, and a conducive investment and operating environment for business, are closely intertwined. Increasingly, defenders see this and are engaging directly with business where it is safe and appropriate to do so. And increasingly responsible businesses recognise this and are taking steps to respect, consult, support, protect and even advocate for defenders and against repression. I encourage you to share and build on this good practice, working with human rights defenders and standing with civil society to ensure a safe and enabling operating environment for all.
Phil Lynch is Director of the International Service for Human Rights. Follow him on Twitter: @PhilALynch