STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK ON A NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS FOR MALAYSIA B. Pillar II – Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights 98. The corporate responsibility to respect human rights is, simply put, a responsibility to ‘do no harm.’98 According to the Guiding Principles, this means that business enterprises should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved.99 While this responsibility is not an international legal obligation that is imposed on companies, it stems from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which calls on “every organ” of society to contribute to realising human rights for all.100 With the endorsement of the Guiding Principles by the UN Human Rights Council, this responsibility has been affirmed by the UN Member States.101 99. According to the Guiding Principles, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights requires businesses to address the following ways in which their activities may be connected to adverse human rights impacts:102 (a) A business may cause adverse human rights impacts through its own activities, if, for example, its failure to provide a healthy and safe working environment for its workers results in personal injury (a) A business may contribute to adverse human rights impacts if, for example, it provides financing to a development project that fails to conduct adequate ESIAs and prior and informed consultation with affected groups, resulting in harm to affected communities (b) A business may be directly linked to adverse human rights impacts if, for example, one of its suppliers uses child or forced labour 100. All business enterprises have the same responsibility to respect human rights, regardless of their size, sector, operational context, ownership and structure, although the means by which they should meet this responsibility may vary.103 Notably, the SSM has affirmed that corporate responsibility “is applicable to all types of companies regardless of their types (public or private companies), size of operations, nature of businesses carried out, and whether listed or otherwise … [and] is also applicable to other forms of carrying out business in Malaysia such as sole proprietorship, partnership, or limited liability partnership.”104 It is all the more so that no enterprise is exempted from its responsibility to respect human rights. 101. In articulating how businesses may implement their responsibility to respect human rights, the Guiding Principles highlight that they should have in place policies and processes appropriate to their size and circumstances, including:105 (a) A policy commitment to meet their responsibility to respect human rights; (b) A human rights due diligence process to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their impacts on human rights; (c) Processes to enable the remediation of any adverse human rights impacts that they cause or contribute to. 31