List of Documents Prepared by the Special Representative to the UN Secretary General on Business and Human Rights

A few years ago, the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed a special representative on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations.

That person's job is to identify standards of corporate responsibility; develop materials for human rights impact assessments of the activities of corporations abroad; elaborate on the role of States in effectively regulating corporations when it comes to human rights; and compile a compendium of best practices of States and corporations.

The current Special Representative is John Ruggie.

Yesterday, his office published a comprehensive list of documents produced under his authority:

"In addition to the SRSG’s official reports, it also includes briefing papers prepared by the SRSG’s research team as well as submissions from a variety of different stakeholders."

"The documents are divided into the following groupings: (1) official documents (reports and annexes) submitted by the SRSG to the HRC [UN Human Rights Council]; (2) the analyses conducted by the SRSG’s team on the subject of state responsibilities to regulate and adjudicate corporate activities...; (3) documentation related to consultations held by the SRSG; (4) general briefing papers and submissions prepared by or to inform the SRSG; and (5) correspondence with non-governmental organizations (NGOs)."

The documents cover issues such as Third World outsourcing, extractive industries, how international human rights laws can apply to corporations, the state duty to protect, and the need for more effective grievance mechanisms.