Parliamentarians and Party Leaders Tackle Business and Human Rights

Why are parliamentarians and political party leaders being left behind when it comes to discussions on Business and Human Rights (BHR)?

It has been more than a decade since the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UN HRC) endorsed the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”, but the knowledge of parliamentarians and political party leaders on this issue remains to be rudimentary compared to human rights activists, lawyers and business leaders.

It was for this reason that Asia Centre, in cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), organized a regional training on 28-30 November 2022 that catered primarily to parliamentarians and political party leaders in Asia.  The training was also inspired by the chapter contributed by the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) to the Asia Centre and FNF publication, Business and Human Rights in Southeast Asia: Developing National Action Plans.

In the CALD chapter, which focuses on the development of BHR National Action Plans (NAPs), it was concluded that “the engagement of parliamentarians in developing the NAP was noticeably absent… despite the consensus that parliamentarians can contribute, in a number of ways, to the process of drafting and implementing the NAP.”  This shows that much more needs to be done to democratize the NAP process and internalize BHR principles.

“Our fight to advance Business and Human Rights — like our broader struggle to embed democracy and liberal democratic values in Asian society – is still a work-in-progress”, said CALD Secretary General Francis Gerald “Blue” Abaya.  He then expressed his hope that the training could provide some guideposts on how to advance BHR in the participants’ respective countries. “After all, human rights are an issue that should concern us all”, he added.

One area where parliamentarians and political party leaders can push for BHR is in the development of the NAPs.  In the panel moderated by CALD Executive Director Lito Arlegue, he provided an overview of the NAPs process in each country, as well as the openings where political actors can intervene. In the group discussions that followed subsequently, the participants tackled these issues more substantively, before reporting the results of their discussions to the plenary.

The training also provided an opportunity to explore the “noodle bowl of acronyms” that accompany BHR such as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), among others.  Moreover, there were also discussions on the role of design professionals and religious organizations in advancing human rights at the country, community and workplace levels.

The training was attended by CALD member-parties from Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia and Mongolia.  It was facilitated by Asia Centre Regional Director James Gomez, Access Now Asia-Pacific Campaigner Golda Benjamin, and M. Ravi Law’s Founder M. Ravi.