responsibilities to respect human rights, to support government's obligation to protect human
rights, and to provide more effective access to remedies. (Ruggie, 2008)
The duty to respect human rights exists independently of government's human rights
obligations. lt requires all business enterprises, "regardless of their size, sector, operational
context, ownership and structure" to "avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should
address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved." (Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights, 2011) This responsibility carries with it the responsibility to "avoid
causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, and
address such impacts when they occur; [and] seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights
impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business
relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts." (Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights, 2011) lt also requires the adoption of a policy commitment to
respect human rights, the conduct of human rights due diligence and the adoption and
implementation of processes that enable remediation of any adverse human rights impacts of
business enterprises.
The duty to support government's obligation to protect human rights recognizes the positive
impact of government guidance and regulation on the private sector: "Governments should not
assume they are helping business by failing to provide adequate guidance for, or regulation of,
the human rights impact of corporate activities. On the contrary, the less governments do, the
more they increase reputational and other risks to business." (Ruggie, 2008) Government's
obligation to protect human rights may be exercised through policy instruments that support
and strengthen market pressures on companies to respect human rights and foster a corporate
culture respectful of human rights, policy innovations that prevent corporate abuse, and
arbitration procedures that balance investor interests and the discharge by government of its
human rights obligations. This may entail aligning fiscal policies to strengthen implementation
of human rights treaty commitments and ensure coherence among different government
agencies.
The State obligation to protect against human rights abuse by third parties, including business
enterprises, requires the State to take "appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish and
redress such abuse through effective policies, legislation, regulations and adjudication."
(Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,2011) This obligation may be put into
practice by, among others, strict enforcement of laws requiring business enterprises to respect
human rights, ensuring that business and corporate laws and policies enable business to
respect human rights, and ensuring policy coherence by, among others, maintaining "adequate
domestic policy space to meet their human rights obligations when pursuing business-related
policy objectives with other States or business enterprises, for instance through investment
treaties or contracts." (Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, 2011)
Of particular relevance to public-private partnerships are three operational obligations to (a)
"take additional steps to protect against human rights abuses by business enterprises that are
owned or controlled by the State, or that receive substantial support and services from State
agencies such as export credit agencies and official investment insurance or guarantee
agencies, including, where appropriate, by requiring human rights due diligence;" (b) "exercise
adequate oversight in order to meet their international human rights obligations when they
contract with, or legislate for, business enterprises to provide services that may impact upon
the enjoyment of human rights;" and (c) "promote respect for human rights by business
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