A Commission for Business, Human Rights and the Environment
For years War on Want has published evidence of UK companies committing human rights abuses when operating overseas. These abuses range from labour rights abuses to the shooting of innocent civilians by private military security companies.
War on Want has campaigned successfully for the government to change company law so that company directors have to take into account their impact on workers and the environment. Despite this victory, it remains very difficult for victims of corporate human rights abuse to access justice and obtain remedies.
The government is too dependent on using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the voluntary approach to address human rights abuses, instead of legally binding rules and mechanisms. It makes no sense for human rights to be enforced via voluntary initiatives which don’t actually punish companies for committing human rights abuses or provide remedies for victims of abuse.
Instead War on Want supports the establishment of a Commission for Business, Human Rights and the Environment (Commission) that could investigate human rights abuses committed by UK companies overseas and provide justice for the victims.
Importantly the Commission proposal follows the UN Human Rights Council-endorsed framework for business and human rights, in particular the need for the state to provide access to remedies that has been established by Professor John Ruggie, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights and transnational corporations.
Click here to read more about what the Commission would do.
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