(Stans Goudsmit, The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights) Human rights provide a firm legal basis for victims of crimes to get access to justice. States have the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. If one’s rights are violated - e.g. the right to life, the right to have one's physical and mental health protected, or the prohibition of ill treatment - the State must guarantee that everyone has the right to go to court, or to an alternative dispute resolution body, and to get a remedy for their rights violated. This is the right of access to justice. Without it, a victim is not able to enforce his rights or to redress the damage suffered. The right to access to justice – like other human rights - should be available, accessible, acceptable and of sufficient quality for victims. Not only States have to fulfill human rights. The United Nations has developed General Principles for businesses to respect human rights within their company and in the support chain. Businesses that do violate human rights have to provide adequate compensation. This is for example important for victims of labor exploitation.

1. Businesses and human rights:
what are their obligations?
Stans Goudsmit

2. Joint responsibility of States and
businesses
 UN Guiding Principles (GP’s) on Business and human
rights
 Three pillars:
 Duty to protect against human rights abuses by third
parties, including businesses: State
 Responsibility to respect human rights: both State
and businesses
 Access to effective remedy, judicial and non-
judicial: both State and businesses
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3. Respect human rights: businesses
 GP 13
The responsibility to respect human rights requires that
businesses enterprises:
a. Avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights
impacts through their own activities, and address such
impacts when they occur;
b. Seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights
impacts that are directly linked to their operations,
products or services by their business relationships,
even if they have not contributed to those impacts.
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4. How do businesses respect human rights?
 GP 15:
In order to meet their responsibility to respect human
rights, business enterprises should have in place policies
and processes (…), including:
 Policy commitment to meet their responsibility to
respect human rights;
 Human rights due diligence process to identify,
prevent, mitigate and account for how they address
their impacts on human rights;
 Processes to enable the remediation of any adverse
human rights impacts they cause or to which they
contribute
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5. Access to remedy: State
GP 25:
 … States must take appropriate steps to ensure,
through judicial, administrative, legislative or other
appropriate means, that when such abuses occur within
their territory and/or jurisdiction those affected have
access to effective remedy
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6. Access to remedy: businesses
 GP 29:
To make it possible for grievances to be addressed early
and remediated directly, business enterprises should
establish or participate in effective operational-level
grievance mechanisms for individuals and communities
who may be adversely impacted
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7. Criteria for effective non-judicial
grievance mechanisms
 GP 31: In order to ensure their effectiveness, non-
judicial grievance mechanisms, both State-based and
non-State-based, should be:
(a) Legitimate;
(b) Accessible;
(c) Predictable;
(d) Equitable;
(e) Transparent;
(f) Rights-compatible;
(g) Source of continuous learning;
(h) Based on engagement and dialogue
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8. State must reduce barriers to access a
remedy
GP 26:
States should take appropriate steps to ensure
effectiveness of domestic judicial mechanisms when
addressing business-related human rights abuses,
including ways to reduce legal, practical and other
relevant barriers that could lead to denial of access to
remedy.
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9. Barriers to obtain a remedy for human
rights violations by businesses
 Jurisdiction court
 Applicable law
 Imbalances between parties to business-related human
rights claims, such as financial position, access to
information and expertise
 Costs
 Structure of businesses
 Remedies: reach and enforcement
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10. Discussion
 Home states should lift all barriers to
allow victims to assess an effective
remedy in home state
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