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UN drive for economic and social rights by Interview with Louise Arbour Financial Times 4:26pm 8th Jan, 2008 Jan 8, 2008 The United Nations is to push for economic and social rights, including the human rights responsibilities of companies, to be given greater attention in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Louise Arbour, UN high commissioner for human rights, says in an interview with the Financial Times the attacks on the US on September 11 2001 have left the debate on economic and social rights on hold as the human rights community fought to defend civil liberties from erosion by counter-terrorism measures. The year-long campaign leading up to December’s anniversary of the Universal Declaration represents a fresh opportunity to emphasise the “indivisibility” and “universality” of the human rights affirmed in the declaration, she says. The declaration makes no distinction between civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights. “If you look at the Universal Declaration ... all the rights are there. This was Roosevelt’s ‘Freedom from fear and freedom from want’.” But western governments have largely championed civil and political rights while leaving economic and social rights to the market, she says. “The assumption was that prosperity will look after the right to health and education, which I think is a completely misguided view of what human rights are about. “There’s no reason to assume that prosperity will transform itself naturally into any form of social justice,” she says, including help for the most vulnerable. The overemphasis of civil and political rights has laid the west open to charges of hypocrisy by many developing nations, which say economic and social rights are more important to them. While this argument is “a bit disingenuous”, she says, “the fact that not a single western country has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers is very telling”. Although controversial UN draft norms – setting out companies’ human rights responsibilities – have been shelved for the time being, the high commissioner does not rule out future development of binding international rules for corporations. These could start with less contentious areas, she says, such as non-discrimination, protection of the right to life, liberty of the person, and the core labour conventions outlawing child labour or slavery. She acknowledges this is not a near-term prospect. “When you look at the fact that it took two decades to get a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, any work that can be done on all fronts to advance human rights protection in an environment where multinational corporations are the dominant actors should be welcomed,” she says. John Ruggie, UN special rapporteur on business and human rights, is due to make recommendations to this effect when he presents his final report to the UN Human Rights Council at the end of his mandate in June. Prof Ruggie has been criticised by civil society groups for putting too much stress on voluntary corporate initiatives, which often lack adequate monitoring or accountability mechanisms, which they argue risk defusing pressure for binding rules. Ms Arbour accepts these criticisms, but says the engagement of businesses needs to be encouraged. For instance, her office is working in partnership with the UN’s Global Compact, whose 3,600 corporate members, mostly in emerging economies, have pledged to uphold 10 principles on human rights, labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption. “There should be no false pretence that membership carries any endorsement of the company’s compliance with human rights norms and standards,” she says. “But one can only hope that it will move forward.” Visit the related web page |
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