Business and Human Rights - Towards a Decade of Global Implementation

Business and Human Rights - Towards a Decade of Global Implementation Chinese Stakeholders Consultation Seminar Summary of Discussion January 14, 2021, Online Co-organized by: China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters (CCCMC) I. Keynote speeches: The development of business and human rights issues globally and in Asia Mr. Dante Pesce, Vice Chairperson of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, thanked the organizers and made a keynote speech on Global Perspectives on Business and Human Rights. After that, Mr. Livio Sarandrea, director of the B+HR project of the UNDP Asia-Pacific Office, thanked the organizers and introduced the Development of Business and Human Rights in Asia. They respectively introduced the development status of business and human rights issues on a global scale and in Asia, and expressed their expectation and support for Chinese stakeholders to continue to participate in this global agenda. II. China's policy development on business and human rights: Dr. Liang Xiaohui, China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) Dr. Liang pointed out that the Chinese government has realized the important impact of business on human rights, and has therefore made policy shift since 2011, prompting enterprises to assume the responsibility of respecting human rights. This transformation is reflected in the Chinese government's policies dealing with domestic investment, overseas investment, bilateral and multilateral trade and investment agreements, national human rights action plans, global development agenda (SDGs), global supply chain governance, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative. Dr. Liang summarized China's policy transformation on business and human rights and came up with the following conclusions and recommendations on the UNGPs: 1) China's policy shift on issues related to business and human rights supports and confirms the necessity and effectiveness of the UNGPs. 2) China's policy transformation also demonstrates that the future success of the UNGPs lies in promoting a long-term balance between development and human rights, and their organic integration with business mechanisms. 3) China can continue to enhance the visibility of the UNGPs in relevant policies and promote them as corporate values and operational methodologies, which will be particularly beneficial to the internationalization of Chinese companies. 4) International stakeholders should push 2 the application of the UNGPs at the global, regional and national policy levels in order to counter the politicization and protectionism of issues in the BHR field and to facilitate the achievement of a more sustainable globalization. 5) It is possible to discuss and formulate the “UNGPs version 2.0” to solve the shortcomings manifested in the past ten years and make it more suitable for future needs. III. Practice of Chinese industry in the field of business and human rights：Mr. Sun Lihui, China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters (CCCMC) 1. Industry organizations advocate enterprises to attach importance to human rights responsibility through formulation of standards and guidance, such as, China Social Compliance 9000 for Textile & Apparel Industry formulated by the China National Textile and Apparel Council, and the Guidelines for Social Responsibility of Chinese Industrial Enterprises and Industrial Associations formulated by the China Federation of Industrial Economics, Guidelines for Social Responsibility of China's Citric Acid Industry formulated by CCCMC, Guide on Social Responsibility for the Chinese International Contracting Industry formulated by China International Contractors Association, Guidelines on Social Responsibility for China Electronics Information Industry developed by China Electronics Standardization Association, Guidelines on Social Responsibility for Chinese SMEs formulated by National Council of Small and Medium Enterprises, Guidelines for Social Responsibility in Outbound Mining Investments and Chinese Due Diligence Guidelines for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains formulated by CCCMC, Corporate Social Responsibility Management System for Chinese Information and Communication Industry formulated by the China Association of Communication Enterprise, etc. 2. Industry organizations carry out practical actions, including on-ground actions in the following 8 aspects: standards development, policy advocacy, education and training, technical support, network development, dissemination of information and good practices, dialogue and consultation, and rating and evaluation. 3 3. In terms of practice of enterprises, since 2000, more than 300 Chinese institutions have joined the United Nations Global Compact and pledged to follow its ten principles, including respecting human rights. In recent years, around 2,000 companies in different sectors have issued social responsibility reports each year, of which, state-owned and state-controlled enterprises account for about 50%, private enterprises take up 1/3, and foreign-funded and other types of enterprises account for about 10%. More and more organizations include "human rights" contents, and the relevant information also becomes more specified. In 2008, on the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, two state-owned Chinese enterprises, COSCO Group and Sinosteel, signed the UNDR, committed and declared to make efforts to achieve the objectives of the Declaration. China Molybdenum, Zijin Mining Group Co. and other enterprises have successively issued ESG strategies and policies, clearly included human rights issues, and committed to abide by the Voluntary Principles of Security and Human Rights. Esquel Group attaches great importance to protecting the rights of employees and respecting human rights of residents from local communities in Vietnam. Thus, during the social unrest against foreign business in Vietnam in 2014, local employees joined hands to guard Esquel’s Vietnam factory, leaving the factory unharmed and resuming production within a short time after the incident. A number of new energy enterprises, such as Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Company and Nanjing Hanrui Cobalt Co., Ltd. have incorporated the core content of the UNGPs into their supply chain policies, which strengthened human rights, labor protection, armed conflict, anti-corruption, transparency and other issues. In addition, they also provide capacity-building support for local suppliers in the DRC, and carry out projects in ASM standardization, child labor relief, education, and community livelihood support in the DRC. Downstream brands such as Huawei and ZTE have formulated comprehensive mineral supply chain policies and codes of conduct, actively participated in industry 4 actions, and conducted training and evaluation for enterprises along its supply chains. In 2014, Wanbao Mining’s Letpadaung Copper Mine in Myanmar had serious conflicts with the community due to land issues. After that, Wanbao Mining changed its approach in engaging with the communities and helped to establish dozens of small and medium-sized enterprises for nearly 30 affected villages. The villagers achieved sustainable livelihoods and the living quality of the local communities has improved substantially. IV. Dialogue: Outlook and path for the global implementation of the UNGPs in the next decade In this session, discussions and dialogues are conducted through four guiding questions. 1. What are the lessons and experiences for China to take from the implementation of the UNGPs globally and in other parts of Asia? Discussant No. 1 (Northwest University): The speaker introduced Thailand's practice of fisheries regulation and monitoring to prevent and mitigate the risk of forced labor in the seafood supply chain and the referential significance for China. With the development of industrial fishing and processing abroad, some Chinese fishing vessels will also face issues such as how to protect labor rights and protect the environment in local waters, and China needs to learn from the experience and lessons of other countries such as Thailand. The speaker suggested that the implementation and practice of the UNGPs in China should not be reduced to a show, but play a substantive role; at the same time, the state labor inspection department should be better brought into play in the implementation to make up for the shortcomings of the market mechanism. Discussant No. 2 (Wuhan University): The speaker recommended: 1) Government level: formulate and publish the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights in due course, and central and local government departments actively formulate policies to promote enterprises to fulfill 5 their social responsibilities; stipulate trade, labor and environmental provisions in free trade agreements, and actively dovetail with international standards; strengthen legislation on human rights due diligence; encourage and foster education and research on business and human rights, support and encourage enterprises and institutions to strengthen education and research on business and human rights, so as to foster a human rights culture. 2) Social level: enhance the role of industry associations to help enterprises identify and prevent potential risks, improve social responsibility management, and standardize foreign investment operation behaviors. 3) Enterprise level: enterprises shall take social responsibility, which also includes

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