European Commission Selects Sectors for New Guidance on Responsibility to Respect

The European Commission has finalized the selection of three business sectors that will be the focus of a year-long project to develop sector-specific guidance on the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which forms part of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  The European Commission identified the development of this guidance as one of the priority actions in its recent communication on corporate social responsibility. 

The sectors selected to be the focus of this project are (in alphabetical order): the employment and recruitment agencies sector, the information and communication technology (ICT) sector and the oil and gas sector. Together, the sectors face a wide range of significant human rights challenges that could benefit from detailed guidance focused on the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Guidance to be developed under the project will also have added value to businesses from other sectors facing similar human rights related issues. 

The selection of the three sectors for the project was based on objective criteria and rigorous analysis carried out by Shift and the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB). Careful consideration was given to submissions made by companies, industry federations, NGOs and private individuals. 

The guidance developed through this project will be based on the UN Guiding Principles and will address the particular context and challenges faced by each of the three selected sectors. Extensive consultations with all concerned stakeholder groups are planned as part of the project process. Shift and IHRB will coordinate this process on behalf of the European Commission. The development of the guidance is due to be completed by the end of 2012. 

Any organisations or individuals wishing to submit comments or questions in relation to the project can email sectorguidance@ihrb.org.  Updates on the project, including drafts of relevant documents, will be available shortly on the IHRB website.