"An Asean plan for corporate citizenship?", 24 December 2015

...Around the world, legislators have introduced bills urging countries to divest from fossil fuels. Closer to home, the Philippine Human Rights Commission will investigate the climate change impacts of more than 50 of the biggest fossil fuel companies...The UN Working Group [on business & human rights]...commissioned...a coalition of African and Asian researchers, to study the prospect of NAPs in the Global South...Last month, we submitted our empirical report to the Working Group at the Asean Responsible Business Forum...We highlight a few findings here...We found that large-scale infrastructure projects that were carried out without adequate safeguards have led to local communities being evicted without free prior and informed consent...Soon to be launched, the Asean Economic Community (AEC) aims to transform Asean into a single market...NAPs should look to regional and mega-regional agreements...We believe NAP processes in Asean should first identify gaps in existing legislative and regulatory frameworks, and then outline ways in which to bridge them. This is precisely what Singapore's sustained national strategy to combat haze pollution has sought to do...Singapore's National Environment Agency has also issued "preventive measures notices" to several allegedly errant companies under the THPA...Our research shows that where norms are enshrined through NAPs, and have tri-sector support, laws and remedies follow.