Danny Sriskandarajah, CIVICUS - Welcomes (audio presentation)
Elisa Peter, Publish What You Pay & CIVICUS - Introduction and moderation
Andrew Firmin, CIVICUS - State of Civil Society Report overview
Ana Zbona, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
'Human rights defenders under attack: the role of business in protecting their space' guest essay presentation - part 1 (audio presentation)
Thank you so much as Elisa said, I am with the BHRRC. It is a huge pleasure and honour to be here.
I'll do my best to give you an overview of our guest essay we wrote with ISHR. So I will be speaking on the more negative aspect.
Michael from ISHR will give examples of encouraging cases of business and HRDs cooperating.
In the context of business activities, defenders play a critical role. As the Working Group on BHR has been emphasizing, the UNGPs recognize this in Principle 18,
which urges businesses to consult them and highlights their role as watchdogs, advocates and facilitators. The risks faced by them are highlighted through Principle 26,
the commentary to which requires states to ensure their legitimate activities are not obstructed. The UN also developed the concept of a 'safe and enabling environment' for defenders
which is the benchmark against which states and businesses should implement their human rights obligations and responsibilities.
In spite of these, however, civil society at large is under attack – and defenders who raise concerns about specific companies or sectors - are among those most at risk.
As the Resource Centre's new portal and database show there were at least 460 cases of attacks against these defenders in 2015 and 2016.
Most were connected to extractive and energy industries, followed by agribusiness. In over a quarter of cases, they were related to companies headquartered in Canada, China and the USA, or to their subsidiaries.
6 out of 10 most dangerous countries were in Latin America, though the issue of underreporting in some parts of the world may play a role in this.
Criminalization was the most common form of attack, often preceded by a period of defamation and attack on resources.
There were at least 67 cases where companies were directly involved – mostly through lawsuits against defenders. These lawsuits happened in most sectors and often include charges of defamation.
Just yesterday an important case of this kind began in Thai courts.
Defenders sometimes sue companies back, though this is often lengthy and costly: recent examples include Andy Hall in Thailand and CALAS in Guatemala.
In our guest essay we try to look at what may be some of the drivers of this situation.
The incentive structures of many companies continue to be focused on short-term benefits, with most markets and many investors still rewarding companies on the basis of short-term success rather than for long-term sustainability.
Especially when governments lack the will or frameworks to engage defenders and ensure their safety, or set the wrong incentives for companies, that can lead companies to continue to disavow responsibility for their actions.
This often leads to local resistance and subsequent retaliation, repression and violence against HRDs, which often goes uninvestigated and unpunished, thus fueling continued violence.
States have the primary obligation to ensure rights and protection of defenders.
In our essay, we highlighted cases in which this is turned on its head, and states are pushing companies to criminalize defenders that the state itself wants to silence, such as in the case of several indigenous leaders in Russia.
We also stressed that sometimes business dynamics seem to lead to crackdown.
Some companies still seem to perceive critics being silenced as a short-term "benefit", especially if they experience pressure from investors to deliver results, despite defenders' dissent. Sometimes dynamic between suppliers and brands can incentivize crack-down as suppliers are pressured into meeting demands at low costs.
Finally, we drew attention to the extractive sector, which our research confirmed to be the most dangerous sector for defenders working on business and human rights.
In sum, expectations of companies with regard to defenders need to be clarified at all levels, and leadership by industry champions, but also appropriate laws, monitoring and regulating of businesses are important to disincentivise attacks.
Likewise, governments, buyers, investors and customers can incentivise responsible suppliers and those companies that are not only engaging positively with defenders, but protect civic freedoms and civic space – which many are starting to do.
I will now pass on to Michael to discuss that.
Michael Ineichen, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
'Human rights defenders under attack: the role of business in protecting their space' guest essay presentation - part 2
Adam Shapiro, Frontline Defenders
'Changing the calculation: international business impacts on human rights' guest essay presentation
Uwe Gneiting, Oxfam
'The private sector and the SDGs – implications for civil society' guest essay presentation
Gretchen Gordon, Centre for Human Rights in Development
'The private sector in development: new challenges for human rights and civil society' guest essay presentation
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