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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 12686 | 18 July 2011
Human rights and business
1. The Committee of Ministers has examined
with interest Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1936 (2010) on “Human rights and business” and has brought it to
the attention of member states’ governments. It also sent it to
the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), the European Committee
on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ), the Consultative Committee of the
Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic
Processing of Personal Data (T-PD) and the Steering Committee on
the Media and New Communication Services (CDMC), whose comments
have been taken into account in the present reply.
2. The Committee of Ministers agrees with the Assembly that there
could be an interest in exploring ways and means of enhancing the
role of business in respecting and about promoting human rights
and the fact that the Council of Europe is well placed to do this.
In this context, it notes that many of the Committee of Ministers’ standard-setting
instruments concerning the Internet and the information society
highlight these issues and underline the roles and responsibilities
of the private sector in respecting human rights.
3. Internet governance is an exemplary area of the Council of
Europe’s activities where the relationship between human rights
and roles and responsibilities of business has been articulated
in an authoritative way. The notion of the public service value
of the Internet, as laid down in Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)16, provides
inspiration for the development of Internet governance policies. The
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on network neutrality
and the Declaration on the management of Internet protocol addresses
in the public interest signal a commitment to the protection and
promotion of human rights on the Internet.
4. Partnerships with the business community have produced tangible
results such as the “Human Rights Guidelines for ISPs” and “Human
Rights Guidelines for Online Games Providers” – developed by the
Council of Europe in co-operation with the European Association
of Internet Services Providers (EuroISPA) and the Interactive Software
Federation in Europe (ISFE). Similar guidelines are under preparation
in respect of Internet social network services and search engines.
Further, the Council of Europe recently joined as observer the Governmental
Advisory Committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (GAC) which is responsible for the management
of critical Internet resources for the global Internet community,
as a means of bringing the Organisation’s core values into relevant
discussions and decision-making processes.
5. The Committee of Ministers observes that there are already
several non-legally binding international documents in the field
of corporate human rights responsibilities adopted by other intergovernmental
bodies, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s
Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises adopted in 1976 and revised
on several occasions, the International Labour Organisation’s Tripartite
Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and
Social Policy, adopted in 1977, and the United Nations 2000 Global
Compact. In particular, it welcomes the United Nations’ recent endorsement
of the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing
the United Nations “Respect, Protect and Remedy” Framework”, and
the establishment of a new international working group to promote
implementation of the Principles worldwide.
6. With regard to the Assembly’s proposal to draft a convention
or an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights
in this area, the Committee of Ministers considers that this is
not the most appropriate solution. The Committee of Ministers notes
the proposals by the Assembly to prepare a study and a draft recommendation
on the human rights responsibilities of businesses, together with
guidelines for national authorities, businesses and other actors
or the introduction of a human rights “labelling” mechanism. It
notes that some of these ideas had already been discussed by the
Committee of Experts on the Development of Human Rights (DH-DEV)
in April 2010 and by the CDDH in June 2010, and that in its comments,
the CDDH emphasised the need to give priority in its work to the
follow-up to the Interlaken Ministerial Conference on the reform
of the European Court of Human Rights and the accession of the European
Union to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the CDDH
could be asked to give its view, as of 2012, on the proposals made
by the DH‑DEV and in the Assembly’s recommendation, taking into
account, inter alia, the case
law of the Court, while taking care that there should be no duplication
of the work being carried out in other international organisations,
in particular the United Nations, and taking into account the work
carried out by the European Union.
7. In this context, the Committee of Ministers notes the work
begun by the CDDH to update its manual on human rights and the environment,
businesses having responsibilities in this area too.
8. At the same time, the Committee of Ministers attaches particular
importance to the modernisation of the Convention for the Protection
of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data
(ETS No. 108) which fully applies to the public and private sectors.
It invites the Assembly to continue monitoring this modernisation
process which the T-PD is endeavouring to complete in the shortest
time possible, taking into account the very complex nature of the
work and the necessary consultation of external stakeholders, as well
as the availability of human and financial resources. The Committee
of Ministers notes the success of the public consultation on the
modernisation process launched on 28 January 2011 and the large
number of private-sector players (banking, insurance, e-commerce,
marketing, broadcasting, socio-economic research, etc.) among the
respondents. The Committee of Ministers further notes that the Ministers
of Justice of Council of Europe member states reiterated their interest
in this Convention at the 30th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers
of Justice on 26 November 2010, by adopting Resolution No. 3 on data protection and privacy in the third millennium.
9. The Committee of Ministers takes note of the Assembly’s request
to strengthen the supervisory mechanism of the Revised European
Social Charter (ETS No. 163) and wishes to inform the Assembly that
it is currently examining proposals along these lines with a view
to the 50th anniversary of the Charter in October 2011.