Recommendation 2166 (2019)

Human rights and business – what follow-up to Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)3?

Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 29 November 2019 (see Doc. 15004, report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mr Elshad Hasanov; and Doc. 15005, opinion of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Mr Mikayel Melkumyan).

1. Referring to its Resolution 2311 (2019) “Human rights and business – what follow-up to Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)3?”, the Parliamentary Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

1.1. take all necessary measures to ensure a wide dissemination of Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)3 on human rights and business;

1.2. examine the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)3 as soon as possible and, in any event, not later than five years after its adoption;

1.3. consider conducting further reviews of the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)3 on a regular basis;

1.4. continue to support the work of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) on human rights and business;

1.5. take all the necessary measures to make the CDDH’s Online Platform for Human Rights and Business operational without delay;

1.6. take all the necessary measures to encourage Council of Europe member States to adopt, review and/or update action plans on the implementation of United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, if they have not yet done so, and to share them with other Council of Europe member States, in particular through the Online Platform for Human Rights and Business;

1.7. step up the co-operation between the Council of Europe and other international organisations, in particular the United Nations, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union, with a view to promoting consolidation of coherent standards on businesses’ responsibilities in the area of human rights and the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles, as well as exchanging good practices in this area;

1.8. engage in the work of the United Nations open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights on a legally binding instrument on business activities and human rights;

1.9. consider revising Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)3 with a view to more explicitly covering gender-based human rights abuses and vulnerable population groups such as migrant workers, minorities and persons with disabilities, and referring to member States’ obligations towards these groups under the European Social Charter (ETS Nos. 35 and 163).