Commentary on The Ruggie Report:
The Interplay of Business, States and Human Rights
On March 28, John Ruggie, UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on business and human rights, submitted his second report to the UN Human Rights Council. Among other things, Ruggie’s report addresses:
- Issues of State duty to protect
- Corporate responsibility and accountability for international crimes
- Corporate responsibility for other human rights violations under international law
- Soft law mechanisms
- Self-regulation 1
Both the UN's appointment of Dr. Ruggie and the ongoing debate surrounding his work of the past 18 months indicate a surge in attention to the issue of corporate responsibility for human rights, and to the question of the extent to which corporations can be held accountable for human rights violations.
Liz Umlas, Senior Research Analyst at KLD, provides commentary on selected aspects of the report and a brief overview of the implications of the SRSG’s work in “Commentary on The Ruggie Report: The Interplay of Business, States and Human Rights”.
To access the full article by Liz Umlas, please click here.
For more information on John Ruggie’s UN position and the report, please click here.
1 A/HRC/4/35, "Business and Human Rights: Mapping International Standards of Responsibility and Accountability for Corporate Acts". Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John Ruggie, to United Nations Human Rights Council. February 19, 2007.
| 
