Annan charges nations to protect human rights

FORMER Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Annan, has charged nations to ensure they protect against human rights abuses within their territories by third parties, including business enterprises.

Annan made the charge in his presentation at the 2015 International Bar Association (IBA) conference in Austria Centre, Vienna while discussing his vision of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the positive role lawyers can play in their implementation.
He spoke alongside John Ruggie, a former UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights.
He said it is the state duty to protect human rights, adding that such requires taking appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish and redress such abuses through effective policies, legislations and adjudication.

His words: “States’ international human rights law obligations require that they respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of individuals within their territory and/or jurisdiction. This includes the duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business enterprises.
“The States’ duty to protect is a standard of conduct. Therefore, states are not per se responsible for human rights abuses by private actors.
However, States may breach their international human rights law obligations where such abuses can be attributed to them, or where they fail to take appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish and redress private actors’ abuses.“

While States generally have discretion in deciding upon these steps, they should consider the full range of permissible preventative and remedial measures, including policies, legislation, regulations and adjudication. States also have the duty to protect and promote the rule of law, including taking measures to ensure equality before the law, fairness in its application, and by providing for adequate accountability, legal certainty, and procedural and legal transparency.

Besides, the session also provided lawyers the opportunity to discuss the relevance of Annan’s work with the Africa Progress Panel in such areas as transparency, tax responsibilities and the need for governments to adopt more robust policies with regards to business and human rights.

This year’s IBA yearly conference has more than 200 working sessions covering all areas of practice relevant to international legal practitioners. Across the sessions, there are more than 800 speakers from international organisations, including the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), who are sharing their insights on today’s global legal issues. They will cover virtually every aspect of law and justice, from policing the world: the role of national courts in extra-jurisdictional conflict crime, to the Internet and how it is changing our lives through exchanging data through intelligent networks, to the supply of energy and resources and the geo-political challenges in the context of world economy and political stability.