Her Excellency Ms. Cecilia B. Rebong
geneva.pm@dfa.gov.ph

RE: Support at the U.N. Human Rights Council for a resolution to begin a process for establishing a treaty on the issue of business and human rights

Dear Ambassador,

“We, the undersigned organisations” call on you to demonstrate your leadership and commitment to human rights at the June 2014 UN Human Rights Council session by showing your support for a resolution that will seek to begin a process of developing an international treaty on business and human rights – the first binding international legal instrumentto hold corporations accountable for their human rights violations.

By supporting this resolution, you will send an important signal to all other States that it is time to ensure that everybody, including powerful corporations, must respect human rights and be held legally accountable when they do not. The UN Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights helped states and everyone understand that corporations have responsibilities to respect human rights, and they were the beginning of a process. However, when corporations violate human rights the Guiding Principles do not provide any means of holding these corporations accountable for their behaviour.

It is time we were able to hold corporations accountable not only in the countries where they cause or contribute to violations, but also in other countries and internationally if required. Members of civil society in many countries are calling for States to have a intergovernmental dialogue that would begin to develop the process towards creating a binding international instrument that hold corporations accountable for human rights violations, and provide remedy for people adversely affected.

Those corporations that undertake their projects responsibly have nothing to be concerned about better human rights protection. Many corporationsconsider it only fair that those enterprises that respect human rights should expect all other corporations to be held to the same standards. More protection for States and their people against corporate human rights abuses also provides more chances for development to be sustainable and respectful of the rights of people in this country. Binding international human rights standards for corporate activity also create a level playing field for countries, helping statesavoid a regulatory ‘race to the bottom’. Research shows also that corporations consider investing based on a large range of factors, including respect for the rule of law, the local availability of skilled workers, degree of political stability, personal safety and the quality of transportation infrastructure. This runs counter to common claims that the predominant considerations for investors are poor environmental and human rights systems.

We therefore urge your government to join the broad range of States who have already shown their support for progressing international law to address corporate human rights abuses, as shown during the September 2013 session of the Human Rights Council. We ask that you stand on the side of human rights against corporate human rights violations, and the associated impunity thatis all too often to these abuses.

We hope to have the opportunity to continue working with your government in support of this initiative. We would be pleased to provide further information and to meet to discuss this issue.
We thank you for your attention to this important matter and look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,

[Names of the organisation(s) signing / supporting the letter]