The Labour government’s social justice credentials have taken another body blow with a report from the parliamentary joint committee on human rights. The report presents the findings from the committee’s inquiry into the human rights obligations of the private sector, and will make awkward reading for the government and for many corporations based in the UK.
Most importantly, the committee has come out in support of a new commission to crack down on British companies’ continuing human rights violations and to make up for the government’s failure to hold those companies to account.
The cross-party committee expressed its concern at a new rash of allegations of human rights violations recently committed by British companies, several of which it described as having a “woeful record” abroad. For a parliamentary committee which tends to couch its criticism in the softest possible terms, this is a strong condemnation of UK plc’s record around the world. Evidence published by the committee included allegations of involvement in serious human rights abuses by Anglo American, Rio Tinto, BP and many other “household names”.
The committee focused much of its report on the government’s obligation to ensure that British companies do not abuse human rights in their operations. In particular, the committee criticised the Labour government for its fixation with voluntary codes of conduct and other non-enforceable measures instead of binding rules to guarantee the accountability of British corporations.
This will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed New Labour’s love of “light touch” regulation over the past dozen years, as the government has consistently kow-towed to the business communitywhen it comes to corporate accountability. Importantly, the human rights committee rejected the claim often made by corporate lobbyists and the government itself that holding UK companies to account would harm British business interests abroad.
The committee also highlighted the Labour government’s failure to recognise the work being done at the United Nations to tackle human rights violations by multinational companies. Prof John Ruggie, the UN special representative on business and human rights, has repeatedly complained of the “permissive environment” that has been created by governments’ preference for voluntary initiatives over binding regulation of companies, and which allows corporate abuse to continue unchecked. As a result of its inquiry, the committee reported that most UK firms currently fail to meet the due diligence standards recommended by Ruggie as good corporate human rights practice.
The committee’s report paid particular attention to the government’s failure to regulate Britain’s numerous private military and security companies, which have been accused of a host of human rights violations in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. After years of inaction, this summer’s public consultation on possible approaches to policing the sector was widely dismissed as a sham when the government removed all regulatory options from the table.
No sector offers a clearer case for regulation than the private military and security industry, where mercenaries are hired by private companies to provide lethal force in conflict situations. Yet even here the government has proposed a voluntary code of conduct rather than any form of proper regulation, effectively asking mercenary forces to police themselves. The human rights committee condemned official handling of the issue as “regrettable and disappointing … another example of the government citing administrative difficulties and business interests as justification for taking the path of least resistance”.
The committee concluded its report by supporting the idea of a UKcommission on business, human rights and the environment to make up for the evident failure of government to enforce the corporate responsibilities of business. Such a commission would be independent of government and empowered to investigate complaints levelled against British companies for their operations overseas. As such it would be able to sanction corporations for violations of human rights standards, in a way that no other body can do at present. As long as British companies continue to have such a dismal human rights record abroad, such a commission must be one of our highest priorities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/dec/17/corporate-abuse-human-rights-mps