Whistleblowers and the Mainstreaming of a Protection within the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

Abstract

This legal paper is a submission to the United Nations Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.The issue of the protection of whistleblowers has recently generated greater attention from the international community, especially in relation with serious threats to the human right to privacy entailed by the intelligence operations of certain States or the business activity of Internet and information technology companies. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed concerns on this issue in 2013.There is a deep rationale today to strengthen international and domestic safeguards concerning whistleblowers which currently suffer from many gaps and loopholes. One priority for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Committee would be to settle a comprehensive and universal protection of whistleblowers. Another efficient tool would be to incorporate a dedicated protection within the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). In this respect, whistleblowing channels, incentives and safeguards would represent a relevant alternative to an all-audit approach of due diligence processes applied to the value chain of businesses.This legal study was prepared with the support of Aix-Marseille Universite Master of Laws students Khady BÂ, Annie LAGUEUX, Sarah DJABRI, Priscille AGABALIAN, Amandine VOLE, Margaux PAGNI and Sitdhichai CHINTAKANONT in collaboration with the Institut Pluridisciplinaire de l'Eau et de l'Environnement (IPEE).