NHRC, CII hold conference on human rights in businesses

Business enterprises must respect human rights in their conduct and operations, said the participants of Eastern Regional Conference on Business Human Rights organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Friday.

The main objective of the conference was to share the national and international developments in the area of business and human rights, besides hearing the experiences and views of all stakeholders.

Through this conference, the commission also sought inputs from businesses on the draft self-assessment tool to be voluntarily used by the business fraternity, which it has facilitated in developing along with a few other organisations.

Justice Darmar Murugesan, NHRC member, said that human rights being universal in nature, their availability and accessibility are an important measure of human well-being. It is crucial that business enterprises, big or small, must respect the human rights culture in the country in their conduct and operations.

"Undoubtedly, the government has a responsibility and has taken initiatives to protect the people against the violation of human rights. At the same time, business organisations also need to shoulder the responsibility to respect human rights," he said.

According to NHRC guidelines, companies should avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights conditions through their own activities and address such conditions when they occur. Secondly, they must prevent or mitigate adverse human rights conditions that are directly linked to their operations, products or services or their business relationships. Thus, companies must ensure that their entire supply chain is respectful of human rights.

"To fulfill these, there is need for a commitment to respect human rights, evolved at the highest level by the companies. And this should be followed by the process of due diligence," Justice Darmar Murugesan reiterated.

Respect for human rights remains a voluntary obligation for companies, it is receiving wide support, the NHRC member said.