Businesses,
with their geographical and monetary reach owing to extensive globalization,
have had a powerful impact on the Human society through employment generation,
raising living standard, community development and provision of goods and
services for enhancing daily-life convenience. Particular emphasis has been on
its effects on Human Rights, and today it is considered an integral pillar of
the Business Responsibility discourse. The most significant development on this
in the recent years has been the release of the Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights (UNGP) for implementing the UN “Protect, Respect and
Remedy” framework in 2011. Developed by the United Nations through a
consultative process spanning 6 years, it enumerates the roles and responsibilities
of Governments and Businesses towards protecting Human rights, and encourages
nations to have a national action plan on businesses and human rights.
India has actively espoused the
importance of Human Rights, having played a key role in developing and adopting
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and followed this with the adoption
of the Constitution of India, and its articulation of Fundamental Rights and
the Directive Principles of State Policy. In more recent times, the Government of
India enacted the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 and the establishment of
a National Human Rights Commission. However, there were no clear directives for
the role of businesses in Human Rights emancipation. To this end, the Ministry
of Corporate Affairs released the National Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs) for
Business in 2011, wherein one of its Nine Principles of Business Responsibility
is devoted to Human Rights. The Companies Act 2013 relies heavily on the NVGs
to provide frameworks for businesses to advance Human Rights both inside and
outside the workplace.
Despite the presence of suitable
legislative architectures, the awareness in businesses regarding their roles
and responsibilities on advancing Human rights, and amongst citizens about
their rights as consumers, is very low. Businesses need to incorporate Human
Rights into their core businesses and CSR initiatives, and engage with various
stakeholders to implement, assess and report their initiatives. To discuss these issues further and chart a way
forward, Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) in collaboration with ISEAL
Alliance, UK, is organizing a webinar on the topic ‘Advancing Human Rights
in Businesses in India’. The webinar will bring together a panel comprising
leaders from companies and civil society organizations with extensive Human
Rights experiences to share their perspectives on this topic.
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