Toward this end, the UN Working Group on Business and Human
Rights (UNWG) strongly encourages all States to develop, enact,
and update a national action plan on business and human rights
(NAP-BHR). The UNWG has produced the “Guidance on NAPs” in
2016 to support the States in this endeavor. In the said guidance,
the UNWG identified four essential criteria for an effective NAPBHR. It should be grounded on the guiding principles of the
UNGP-BHR, context-specific and addresses the actual and
potential business-related human rights abuses in the country,
developed in inclusive and transparent processes, and regularly
be reviewed and updated.55 The UNGP-BHR also puts strong
attention to the heightened risks of sexual and gender-based
violence in the business setting. To meet this, the State must
refer to other international human rights instruments, such as
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW), in developing the NAP-BHR.
Policy commitment of businesses to respect human rights
In meeting the corporate responsibility to respect human rights,
businesses are expected to express their commitment to meet
this responsibility through a statement of policy or a policy
commitment. The policy commitment explains how a business
enterprise understands its responsibility to respect, specifies the
expectations and direction for those who are supposed to adhere
to or implement the policy, and ways or strategies it intends to
pursue to incorporate the respect for human rights in its policies,
processes, and value chains.
Moreover, in coherence with the UNGP-BHR’s emphasis on the
issues of gender, vulnerability, and marginalization and as a
critical element of their commitment to respect human rights,
businesses have a responsibility for gender equality and women’s
empowerment. To aid businesses, the Women’s Empowerment
Principles (WEPs) of the UN Women and the UN Global Compact
is a useful framework in tackling gender issues and improving
business performance on gender equality through the
integration of these principles into their strategies and policies.
Tools for developing a NAPBHR
Guidance on National
Action Plans, UN Working
Group on Business and
Human Rights
National Action Plans on
Business and Human Rights
Toolkit, Danish Institute for
Human Rights and the
International
Corporate
Accountability Roundtable
Women’s Empowerment
Principles, UN Women and
UN Global Compact
Initiative Spotlight
The Adidas Group
announced in 2016 that it
had published a new policy
aimed at protecting human
rights defenders and setting
its expectation that its
business partners will follow
the same policy.
The Lopez-led Energy
Development Corporation,
a top-performing Philippine
company in human rights
disclosure, affirmed that its
commitment to uphold and
protect human rights in all
levels of its organization is a
key to fostering business
sustainability.
Below are the guidance points for a business’ policy commitment outlined in the UNGP-BHR:56
Approved at the most senior level of management;
Informed by relevant internal and/or external expertise;
Stipulates its human rights expectations of personnel, business partners, and other
parties linked to its operations, products, or services;
Publicly available and communicated internally and externally; and
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