Recommendations for National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights
2. Background and Need for
Recommendations for NAPs
A. With the growing social influence of business enterprises and the public interest
in human rights management issues, there is an increasing demand for protection
of and respect for human rights by business enterprises across the globe. In
addition, countries are institutionalizing human rights based business management
to improve their national image and business competitiveness, based on the need
for human rights risk management and the consensus on universal value such
as protection of and respect for human rights. There is also an ongoing trend
showing that major businesses commit themselves to business management based
on human rights, establish and implement their own plans.
B. In particular, the UN Guiding Principles, since their adoption in 2011, have been
widely accepted by UN member states, business enterprises, civil societies and
international organizations as a global norm on business and human rights.
Accordingly, the international community and human rights respecting countries
are focusing their interests on how they can implement the UNGPs.
C. The best way to implement and publicize the UNGPs is considered to be the
development and implementation of NAPs on business and human rights. In 2013,
the EU recommended its member States to establish their own NAPs, and in 2014,
the UN developed and published the Guidance on National Action Plans on
Business and Human Rights. Subsequently, ten countries have already adopted
NAPs and 19 countries are in the process of developing them. As such, Korea
also needs to formulate and implement NAPs in line with the international trend.
D. The 2015 G7 Summit (7-8 June 2015, Germany) welcomed the efforts to develop
NAPs and declared its support for business and human rights.
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