Joseph Craig
Various legal bodies including ALHR have presented a joint statement requesting the Australian government to execute the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights and Business.
The UN Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the principles in 2011. The principle required the government to protect citizens from business related abuse and it also required businesses to respect human rights.
“Australia has been reluctant in implementing the UN guidelines,” said Amy Sinclair, who is the current chair for Australian Lawyers for Human rights group and Human Rights Business.
“In order to implement the Guiding Principles, the Australian government needs to act with urgency to commence a consultative and interactive process for creating an efficient national action plan,” said Ms Sinclair while speaking with Aussie Lawyer Blog.
According to Ms Sinclair, the process is the best solution for this nation because it will make Australian businesses implement respect for human rights and achieve greater corporate responsibility.
She added that the joint statement lays important groundwork for the country’s execution of the Guiding Principles and provides comprehensive guidance drawn from a wide range of Australian NGOs.
The statement proposed an interactive and transparent process towards a national action plan to address those gaps and a comprehensive process of inquiry to analyse existing gaps in the country’s business-related human rights framework.
The issue will be advanced by a public consultation to be held later in the year.
Ms Sinclair added that the joint statement advocates for effective contribution to the agenda for these consultations, thereafter ALHR hopes that the Australian government will move decisively and swiftly towards creating a plan to execute the UN Guiding principles.
