Roundtable on UK Corporate Responsibility

Roundtable on UK Corporate Responsibility: Voices from the Frontline

Human Rights Defenders from Colombia, Indonesia, Liberia, Mexico and Peru, in conversation with FCDO officials.

21.11.24

This closed Roundtable was chaired by Fabian Hamilton MP, PHRG Chair, and organised with Forest Peoples Programme and Peace Brigades International UK.

Summary of HRDs’ key messages:

• Domestic legislation and its implementation in HRDs’ home countries to enable the accountability of international companies, including those connected to the UK through e.g., listings, banks, Government support and supply chains, for human rights and environmental harms are often deficient.

• Countries may prioritise economic development, at times at the expense of, and in the absence of meaningful consultation with, indigenous communities and other marginalised groups, including those with rights over land earmarked for commercial use, such as oil palm plantations, mining, logging and ranching.

• Critics of such economic activities, including HRDs, and their communities can be subject to serious harms. Individuals can be stigmatised, criminalised and attacked, while communities may face land grabs and displacement, serious degradation of their habitats, disease and chronic health conditions, and violence.

• The collective rights of indigenous peoples must be recognised.

• Customary land occupiers should be considered landowners, and treated on an equal basis.

• Corporate entities must be subject to mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence requirements, not discretionary.

• Countries should adopt and implement National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights, which align with the UN Business and Human Rights Guiding Principles.

• Clear mechanisms for access to justice and to remedies for those whose rights are violated are required.

PBI UK’s report “Case for Change: Why Human Rights Defenders need a UK Law on Mandatory Due Diligence” was also referenced, and features six case studies which highlight the need for such legislation.

Summary of HRDs’ key asks:

1. The UK Parliament should discuss and highlight these issues, to build consensus and ensure the UK is a global leader in responsible business practices.

   
   

2. HRDs at risk, such as those challenging economic activity resulting in human rights and/or environmental harms, need to be better protected, and this should be reflected in the UK’s updated Human Rights Defenders guidance.

   
   

3. Countries, including the UK, must ensure that measures intended to address and mitigate negative climate change impacts are developed and implemented in consultation with indigenous and other affected communities.

   
   

   

   Human Rights Defenders from Colombia, Indonesia, Liberia, Mexico and Peru

   

   Human Rights Defenders from Colombia, Indonesia, Liberia, Mexico and Peru

   

   Fabian Hamilton MP chairing the roundtable