Kiai participates in Human Rights Council interactive dialogue on human rights and business

The Human Rights Council during conducted an interactive dialogue with the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises and with the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

Pavel Sulyandziga, Chair of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, said the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provided a roadmap for both States and companies to take concrete steps to prevent and address adverse impacts on human rights.  The Working Group had carried out a survey of both States and companies to build a solid baseline of data on efforts to implement the Guiding Principles.  The survey provided important findings on where companies were facing challenges in implementation.

Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, said his second thematic report focused on two important issues: the ability of associations to access financial resources, and the ability to hold peaceful assemblies.  Access to financial resources was of contemporary significance for many civil society organizations that bore the brunt of severe constraints in many cases, to the point of threatening their very existence.  Similarily, Governments were increasingly viewing peaceful assemblies as threatening rather than a legitimate means of expression.

A summary of the dialogue is available via OHCHR in English, French and Chinese.

A summary of concluding remarks is also available in English, French and Chinese.

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