On 24th September 2014, FIDH and the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ, of which FIDH is a Steering Committee member) spoke at a hearing organised by the European parliament’s subcommittee on human rights (DROI). This hearing, the first of a set of hearings on business and human rights issues, featured interventions from trade unions (ITUC), NGO (FIDH and ECCJ), business associations (Business Europe) and intergovernmental institutions (ILO) to discuss CSR and workers’ rights outside Europe.
The ILO’s representative, Mr Houngbo, recalled that most abuses were taking place in globalised supply chains.
Mr Benedict from ITUC reminded that the EU and European companies had a key role to play in ensuring that labour and human rights are respected. He took the example of Burma, where economic sanctions have recently been lifted despite the fact that human rights violations are ongoing and that the military remains omnipresent. He indicated that without measures ensuring that companies investing in Burma have due diligence measures in place in order to identify risks of abuses and to address those risks, investment might contribute and aggravate a country’s human rights situation rather than contributing to its development. Mr Benedict added that the EU should at least require responsible reporting requirements to European companies investing in Burma, as the US has imposed to its investors.
Marion Cadier from FIDH presented recent FIDH research highlighting serious human rights violations in global supply chains, illustrating the need for enhanced regulation of corporate activity. She shared findings on working conditions and the human rights situation in textile factories drawn from FIDH reports on China, India and Bangladesh. She added that EU institutions had a critical role to play to push member states to ensure businesses respect human rights throughout their supply chain, but also in showing policy coherence with regards to trade and investment agreements and the protection of human rights defenders.
ECCJ coordinator Jerome Chaplier added that as part of the EU and Member states’ duty to protect human rights, it was essential to demand that companies integrate mandatory due diligence mechanisms in their core business, and address the lack of access to justice by victims of corporate abuses, an issue which remains largely unaddressed.
The Chair of the subcommittee, and several MEPs who intervened in the discussions, clearly stated that the issue business and human rights was one of the Committee’s main priorities, and committed to bring the debate to other parliamentary committees. The European Parliament’s support will be key in the coming months to advance the corporate accountability agenda, and to ensure that the EU takes its commitment to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human rights seriously.
You can watch the full hearing here.