The United Nations (UN) has acknowledged that the activities of business enterprises may have a negative impact on human rights.

The United Nations (UN) has acknowledged that the activities of business enterprises
may have a negative impact on human rights. A mandate on business and human
rights was created in 2005 on the issue of human rights and transnational
corporations and other business enterprises. A Special Representative for Business
and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, was appointed by the UN Secretary
General. This has resulted in the development of the ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’
framework in 200810 which outlines the duties and responsibilities for states and
businesses to address business-related human rights abuses, followed by the
Guiding Principles adopted in 2011 that outline how states and businesses should
implement the UN framework.
The ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ framework rests on three pillars. The first is the
State’s duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including
business enterprises, through appropriate policies, regulation and adjudication. The
second is the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which means that
business enterprises should act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of
others and to address any adverse impacts. The third is the need for greater access
by victims to effective remedy, both judicial and non-judicial. The following sections
apply the framework to the actors involved and demonstrate how they failed to
assume their respective duties and responsibilities in the featured cases.