ILO interview with John Ruggie

Abstract

FOCUS □ BUSINESSAND HUMANRIGHTS ILO interview with John Ruggie One fy 'Protect, of and the Respect clarify maingoals and standards of Remedy' theUN of is Framework corporate to identi- 'Protect, Respectand Remedy' is to identify and clarifystandardsof corporate responsibility and accountability for business enterpriseswith regard to human rights. Professor JohnRuggie, SpecialRepresentative of theUNSecretary General onbusiness andhuman rights, sharedinsights on thecurrent phase and further stepstowardsoperationalising and promoting thisframework withparticipants of the 99thILC. ILO Online spoke withMr. Ruggie aboutdesignand development oftheUN Policy Framework anditsrelationship toILO'swork. ILO - When you wereappointed, whatwas the business attitude towards humanrights issues? Ruggie-WhenI was appointed in2005thebusiness community foundthe whole subject of humanrights a bitmysterious and evenscary.It seemed to be a world withoutboundaries increasingly heldthem responsible for things that theydidn'tthink theyhad responsibility foror didn't knowhowtomanage. Overthecourseoftimewe have demystified thewholeissueofhumanrights and brought it downtoa levelwhereit'sunderstandable; for the corporate community, forsmaller companies and for managers interms ofvery simpleresponsibilities : nottoinfringe ontherights ofothers as they go abouttheir businessandthekindsofsystems thattheyneed to putin place in orderto make surethat that happens. ILO - Why doyoubelieve thetopic ofbusiness and human rights now attracts such wide spread interest? Ruggie-Therehavebeenemblematic cases that have framedthe public understanding and debatewhether it'sShellin Nigeriaor Nike in Indonesia.Publicpressure and advocacygroup pressure alwayshelpsto introduce new subjects tothepublicandthisis no exception. Butovertimealso companies, especially large extractive industries, havefoundincreasing pressurefrom thecommunities inwhichthey operate and havelookedforwaysto managetheir relationships withcommunities better. Investors and governments have raised questions and so increasingly this isa subject that business isfamiliarwithandincreasingly engagedin. ILO - How do ILO instruments fit withinthe framework? Ruggie - The work thatthe ILO does is of coursevery important inthecontext ofworkers' rights whichare overallhumanrights as well. Because oftheexistence oftheILO I don'thave to spendas muchon workers' rights as I otherwisewould .So I focusmoreon issuesrelated to businessimpacton communities and societyas a whole and how these could be moreeffectively managed. In myview what'shappeningis thathuman rights is todaywherethe environment was 30 years ago. No company had environmental impact assessment then, todayalmosteverybody does.Thirty yearsfrom nowcompanies willhave humanrights assessments. In factmanycompaniesalready do. It'spartofthesocialevolution of the relationship betweenbusinessand society thatis focusedon theneed to have sustainable relationships withthephysicalenvironment but also withthesocialenvironment in whichbusinessoperates . ILO - In the"protect, respect and remedy" framework , youassigndifferent responsibilities toStates and companies - whoisultimately responsible in thismodel? Ruggie- The humanrights agendainitially was created byStates forStates and ithad institutional mechanisms thatwere designedto deal with Stateabuses.Onlygradually we havefocusedon the factthatbusinessis havingan enormous impacton humanrights. We alwaysunderstood thatin relation toworkers' rights butit'stakena bitlonger tobring itintothebroader socialroom. ILO - Each year, WorldDay for Socialfustice draws global attentionto efforts to eradicate poverty and promotesocial well-being, equality and full and decentemployment. In 2010 this search fora 'society forall'facessevere challenges broughton by theglobal economicand jobs crises,resurging poverty and long-term social uncertainty. What doessocialjusticemeantoday and how it mightbe achievedin theyears to come? Ruggie-On thesubject ofsocialjustice I takemy cue from Amartya Sen,theNobel Laureateand also a Harvardcolleague,who says: look, we knowthatwe arenotgoingto be able to create a perfect worldbutwe also knowthatthereare remediable situations allaroundus anditisgrievous whensomething that canbe doneisn'tdone. Andso I'mcommitted likeSen is himself, to fixingproblems thatcan be fixedand need to be fixedeven iftheyfallshortofa perfect society, whichremains a long-term aspiration forus all.I amintrinsically optimistic, butI havea long-term perspective. WhenI was appointed in 2005 the business community found the whole subject ofhuman rights a bitmysterious and even scary ILO communications department interviewed PROFESSOR JOHN G. RUGGIE, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises Page 3Volume 17Issue 2201 0 INTERNATIONAL union rights ...