Commentary: US National Action Plan "crucial" to fulfill duty to protect human rights from corporate abuse
"U.S. Promises Action on U.N. Human Rights Principles", 1 Oct 2014
[O]rganizations like Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First and the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) have been publicly pushing President Barack Obama to develop a BHR NAP for some time...In short, a BHR NAP is a policy document that explains how a particular state intends to go about fulfilling its duty to protect human rights from corporate abuse...[T]he creation of a NAP is akin to the crucial step of domestic implementation of a treaty or other international instrument (and the future of the rights or obligations it purports to protect/enforce)...[E]ven though the UNGPs are not a binding instrument, state-based guidance regarding how states intend to protect human rights in the business context is crucial to the future of corporate accountability...Though only a handful of states have officially created BHR NAPs, some of the early plans include ambitious and encouraging proposals for what a state can do to satisfy its duties as articulated in the UNGPs...