On January 20, IPIECA members and Secretariat participated in the first session of the United Nations (UN) Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, held in Geneva. The UN Working Group invited all stakeholders to share their views in order to help establish its work programme, both in advance of this session and during the informal exchange. The business input was limited, so it was valuable for IPIECA to contribute.

Pursuant to the written recommendations submitted to the UN in December, IPIECA’s delegates reiterated that the Working Group should focus on issues related to all three pillars of the UN Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework. As part of this balanced approach, they encouraged the Working Group to enhance State capacity to protect the human rights of citizens in weak governance zones. They recommended that this is done by facilitating international support for the strengthening of core public institutions at the national, regional and local levels, and they emphasized that this would help to foster positive business environments.

IPIECA’s delegates voiced support for multi-sector stakeholder dialogues around business and human rights issues, as well as sector ones. They highlighted that a proliferation of implementation guidance would represent a challenge for industry, and offered to share learnings from IPIECA’s business and human rights project.

In June 2011, IPIECA launched a three-year project to provide its members with a dedicated forum for sharing good practices related to human rights due diligence and grievance mechanisms. The project’s focus for 2012 will continue to be peer learning and the production of industry guidance.

IPIECA is the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues. It develops, shares and promotes good practices and knowledge to help the industry improve its environmental and social performance; and is the industry’s principal channel of communication with the United Nations.

Inquiries: Roper Cleland