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General Comment No. 24 (2017) on State Obligations Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Context of Business Activities (CESCR)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

Tara Van Ho
Tara Van Ho*
Affiliation:
Tara Van Ho is a Lecturer in the School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, and a Core Member of the Essex Business and Human Rights Project.
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Extract

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) took an unusual step in issuing its “General Comment No. 24 on State Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the context of business activities.” Unlike most of CESCR's other General Comments, General Comment No. 24 does not tackle a specific right. Instead, it consolidates and elaborates the Committee's jurisprudence on states' obligations in the area of business and human rights, providing clarity on its approach to some of the most contentious issues within the field of business and human rights. This General Comment has the potential to have profound implications for the ongoing development of legal standards in the area of business and human rights, including implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP).

Type
International Legal Documents
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , August 2019 , pp. 872 - 889
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by The American Society of International Law 

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References

ENDNOTES

1 CESCR, General Comment No. 24 on State Obligations Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Context of Business Activities, UN Doc. E/C.12/GC/24 (Aug. 10, 2017) [hereinafter General Comment No. 24].

2 Rep. of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, John Ruggie, Annex, U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/17/31 (2011), endorsed by UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, UN Doc. A/HRC/17/L.17/Rev.1 (2011).

3 See, e.g., CESCR, Day of General Discussion: Globalization and Its Impact on the Enjoyment of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Doc. E/C.12/1998/26 (May 11, 1998).

4 CESCR, Statement on the Obligations of States Parties Regarding the Corporate Sector and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Doc. E/C.12/2011/1, ¶ 7 (July 12, 2011).

5 See, e.g., Anita Ramasastry & Doug Cassel, White Paper: Options for a Treaty on Business and Human Rights, 6 Notre Dame J. Int'l & Comp. L. 1, 48–49 (2016); Nicolas Carrillo Santarelli, A Defence of Direct International Human Rights Obligations of (All) Corporations, in The Future of Business and Human Rights: Theoretical and Practical Considerations for a UN Treaty 33–62 (Jernej Letnar Cernic & Nicolas Carrillo-Santarelli eds., 2018); Tara Van Ho, “Band-Aids Don't Fix Bullet Holes”: In Defence of a Traditional State-Centric Approach, in The Future of Business and Human Rights: Theoretical and Practical Considerations for a UN Treaty 111–38 (Jernej Letnar Cernic & Nicolas Carrillo-Santarelli eds., 2018).

6 See, e.g., Claire Methven O'Brien, The Home State Duty to Regulate the Human Rights Impacts of TNCs Abroad: A Rebuttal, 3 Bus. & H.R. J. 47 (2018); Olivier De Schutter, Towards a New Treaty on Business and Human Rights, 1 Bus. & H.R. J. 41 (2016); Nadia Bernaz, Enhancing Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations: Is Extraterritoriality the Magic Potion?, 117 J. Bus. Ethics 493 (2013).

7 General Comment No. 24, supra note 1, ¶ 5.

8 Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, ICJ Reports 2004, 136 at ¶¶ 106–13.

9 See supra note 6.

10 See Nadia Bernaz, Business and Human Rights: History, Law and Policy—Bridging the Accountability Gap 263–65 (2017).

11 Id.

12 Loi 2017-399 du 27 Mars 2017 relative au devoir de vigilance des societies meres et des enterprises donneuses d'order, [Law 2017-399 of March 27, 2017 Relating to the Duty of Care of Parent Companies and Contractors], Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], Mar. 28, 2017. For an English-language discussion of the law, see Sandra Cossart, Jérôme Chaplier & Tiphaine Beau de Lomenie, The French Law on Duty of Care: A Historic Step Towards Making Globalization Work for All, 2 Bus. & H.R. J. 317 (2017).

13 See, e.g., CESCR, General Comment No. 4 (1991) on the Right to Adequate Housing, UN Doc. E/1992/23, ¶ 14 (1991); CESCR, Day of General Discussion: Globalization and Its Impact on the Enjoyment of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Doc. E/C.12/1998/26 (1998); CESCR, General Comment No. 12 (1999) on the Right to Adequate Food, UN Doc. E/C.12/1999/5 ¶¶ 19–20 (1999); CESCR, General Comment No. 15 (2002) on the Right to Water, UN Doc. E/C.12/2002/11, ¶ 49 (2003); CESCR, Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Germany, UN Doc. E/C.12/DEU/CO/5, ¶ 10 (2011); CESCR, Statement on the Obligations of States Parties Regarding the Corporate Sector and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Doc. E/C.12/2011/1 (2011); CESCR, General Comment No. 23 (2016) on the Right to Just and Favourable Conditions of Work, UN Doc. E/C.12/GC/23, ¶¶ 74–75 (2016); CESCR, Concluding Observations on the Sixth Periodic Report of Canada, UN Doc. E/C.12/CAN/CO/6, ¶¶ 15–16 (2016).

14 General Comment No. 24, supra note 1, ¶ 28.

15 Id. ¶ 37

16 Id. ¶ 33.

17 Id. ¶ 9. This recommendation was echoed in a 2019 report from the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, Rep. of the Working Group on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, Gender Dimensions of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/41/43, ¶¶ 43–45 (May 23, 2019).

18 General Comment No. 24, supra note 1, ¶¶ 21–22.

19 Id.

20 See Dinah Shelton, Remedies in International Human Rights Law 16–17 (2015).

21 GA Res. 60/147, Annex, ¶ 18 (2005).

22 General Comment No. 24, supra note 1, ¶ 44.

23 Legally Binding Instrument to Regulate, in International Human Rights Law, the Activities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, Zero Draft (July 16, 2018), available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/WGTransCorp/Session3/DraftLBI.pdf". During the publication cycle, the Open Ended Intergovernmental Working Group released a revised draft of the proposed treaty. See OEIGWG Chairmanship Revised Draft, 16.7.2019, art. 5(1), available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/WGTransCorp/OEIGWG_RevisedDraft_LBI.pdf.