(MENAFNEditorial) The International Bar Association (IBA) Business and Human Rights Working Group has opened a global, public consultation on its recently published draft guidance for bar associations and business lawyers ('Draft IBA Guidance') on the application of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). All interested stakeholders are invited to submit public comments via a form, which can be downloaded here. The closing date for comments is 1 March 2015.
Following their unanimous endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, the UNGPs have become the authoritative point of convergence on business and human rights internationally. They articulate a global consensus that businesses throughout the world should respect human rights. Increasingly, they are reflected in national policy and law, corporate sustainability reporting frameworks and governance, stock exchange listing requirements, international standard-setting bodies, commercial and financial transactions, and in the public and judicial advocacy of civil society. Since these areas are highly relevant to lawyers – particularly those who advise businesses – bar associations and lawyers need to understand the UNGPs and address the implications they have for the practice of law.
'Through the advice and services that they provide to business clients, lawyers can add significant value by helping companies to respect human rights. The Draft IBA Guidance results from an international effort to guide the legal profession in integrating the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights into the practice of business law. The IBA public consultation forms an essential part of the process of finalising the IBA Guidance,' said John F Sherman III, Chair of the IBA Business and Human Rights Working Group and General Counsel and Senior Advisor to Shift – an independent, non-profit centre for business and human rights practice chaired by former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Business and Human Rights, and author of the UNGPs, Professor John Ruggie.
The Draft IBA Guidance – the first of its kind since the UN Human Rights Council's endorsement of the Guiding Principles in 2011 – is divided into two working guidance documents: one for business lawyers, both in-house lawyers and external counsel in law firms; and the other for bar associations.
The guidance for business lawyers is intended to assist them in:
•understanding the core content of the UNGPs (Part 1);
•starting to explore the ways in which the UNGPs may be relevant to the advice and other services they provide to business clients (Part 2); and
•recognising potential implications of the UNGPs for law firms as business enterprises themselves with their own responsibility to respect human rights (Part 3).
The guidance for bar associations considers how they can, with respect to the topic of business and human rights:
•improve the understanding of the relevance and applicability of business and human rights principles;
•develop an overall strategy for integrating the UNGPs into the practice of law;
•raise awareness;
•educate the legal profession;
•review ethical codes of conduct;
•provide guidance and technical assistance;
•share best practices; and
•take an active role in public discussions on business and human rights
The IBA Business and Human Rights Working Group and IBA Legal Projects Team will pursue deeper engagement on the Draft IBA Guidance through focus groups and bilateral meetings with the bar associations and legal professionals of Costa Rica, Namibia and Spain. Subsequent to any revisions following the results of the public consultation, formal approval and adoption by the IBA Council of the Final Guidance will be sought at the 2015 IBA Annual Conference in Vienna, Austria.
Click here to download the Draft IBA Guidance.
www.ibanet.org/Document/Default.aspx?DocumentUid=5aae8db0-eede-48e5-90c4-befb796e832e
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