While the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights define the respective roles of government and business in ensuring business entities respect human rights throughout their operations, dissemination and implementation of the Guiding Principles falls under the mandate of national governments. That this may not currently be at the forefront of State policy can perhaps be gleaned from the fact that only 18 of the 193 UN Member States took it upon themselves to respond to the UN Working Group’s 2015 survey of their efforts to implement the Guiding Principles in business enterprises where the State itself is an economic actor.

There are many reasons for this, not least the Guiding Principles being relatively new and many governments, and state-owned enterprises, having yet to entirely come to grips with what compliance really entails. This is something of which the Association For International Human Rights Reporting Standards (FIHRRST) is well aware. An international not-for-profit association established in Belgium, FIHRRST was specifically set up to promote and disseminate human rights ideals. Part of its work in this field is the development and promotion of standards by which adherence to human rights principles can be demonstrated. For if something is important enough to be warrant consideration then it should certainly be reported...