STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK ON A NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS FOR MALAYSIA II. OBJECTIVES, RATIONALE & METHODOLOGY 7. The objective of the Commission’s business and human rights efforts, and this Strategic Framework, is to secure the prevention and remedy of adverse business-related human rights impacts. Doing so responds to the challenges faced in fulfilling Malaysia’s vision of becoming a fully developed nation. 8. For a nation striding towards developed nation status, safeguarding the social and environmental well-being of Malaysia’s people in the midst of economic growth is a national priority. A developed nation, according to Malaysia’s Vision 2020, is certainly not defined solely by its economic growth and productivity. A fully developed Malaysia must also have a moral, ethical, caring and economically just and equitable society.1 Achieving this priority requires ensuring that business conduct respects human rights. Business conduct that is respectful of human rights will also boost businesses’ reputation for doing good business and strengthen Malaysia’s international economic competitiveness. In that regard, Malaysia’s Vision 2020 rightly recognises that privatisation must go hand in hand with social responsibility.2 9. Ensuring that business conduct respects human rights is challenging. We see from around the world no shortage of examples of the negative impacts that economic forces and actors have had on societies. From large-scale human rights abuses caused by the oil and gas operations of transnational corporations, to workers’ deaths in deplorable factory conditions, to the poisoning of whole communities due to the operations of chemical plants and mining companies – the adverse human rights impacts of economic and business activities are a global problem. 10. Malaysia is no exception. Malaysia has faced allegations that child labour and forced labour are prevalent in its palm oil and electronics sectors respectively,3 with one high profile report finding that one in three migrant workers in Malaysia are in conditions of forced labour.4 The downgrading of Malaysia to Tier 3 in the U.S. State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, the lowest category possible, has also sparked domestic and international concern over companies in Malaysia being sites of “modern day slavery.”5 11. The adverse impacts of businesses on human rights have also emerged as a recurring theme in the Commission’s scope of activities, even though the Commission’s initial work areas did not specifically address private sector impacts. Examples of these adverse business-related human rights impacts include the abuse and exploitation of migrant workers, the environmental and social impacts of hydropower and other development projects on indigenous peoples, the human rights risks and challenges posed by the plantations sector, sexual harassment in the workplace, gender discrimination in private sector wages, and the low rate of employment of persons with disabilities. 12. Malaysia can do better. Business conduct that contributes to rather than undermines Malaysia’s moral, ethical and caring society, requires the prevention and remedy of the adverse human rights impacts of business and economic activities. Boosting the reputation of Malaysia as a country that 3