Human Rights Documents

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of December 1948
PREAMBLE
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts whichhave outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has beenproclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort,
to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by therule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faithin fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in theequal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with theUnited Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights andfundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, therefore,
The General Assembly,
Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ ofsociety, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education
to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national
and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both
among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under
their jurisdiction.
Article I
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed withreason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
146

Business, Human Rights and Northeast Asia

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional
or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be
independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violationof this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals foracts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent andimpartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal
charge against him.
Article 11
1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until
proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission
which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time
when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home orcorrespondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right tothe protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
A Facilitator’s Training Manual147

Article 13
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders ofeach State.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his
country.
Article 14
1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from nonpolitical crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change
his nationality.
Article 16
1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion,
have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending
spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled toprotection by society and the State.
Article 17
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes
freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community withothers and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom
to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

148

Business, Human Rights and Northeast Asia

Article 21
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or
through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shallbe expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrageand shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance withthe organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights
indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable
conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for
himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his
interests.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working
hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessarysocial services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children,whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementaryand fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equallyaccessible to all on the basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to
the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, andshall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to theirchildren.
A Facilitator’s Training Manual

149

Article 27
1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, toenjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting
from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms
set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29
1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full developmentof his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such
limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition andrespect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes andprinciples of the United Nations.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person
any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of
the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

150

Business, Human Rights and Northeast Asia

Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights:
Implementing the United Nations “Protect,
Respect and Remedy” Framework*
General principles
I. The State duty to protect human rights
A. Foundational principles
1. States must protect against human rights abuse within their territory and/or jurisdiction
by third parties, including business enterprises. This requires taking appropriate steps toprevent, investigate, punish and redress such abuse through effective policies, legislation,
regulations and adjudication.
2. States should set out clearly the expectation that all business enterprises domiciled in theirterritory and/or jurisdiction respect human rights throughout their operations.
B. Operational principles
General State regulatory and policy functions
3. In meeting their duty to protect, States should:(a) Enforce laws that are aimed at, or have the effect of, requiring business enterprises
to respect human rights, and periodically to assess the adequacy of such laws and address any gaps;(b) Ensure that other laws and policies governing the creation and ongoing operation ofbusiness enterprises, such as corporate law, do not constrain but enable business respectfor human rights;(c) Provide effective guidance to business enterprises on how to respect human rights
throughout their operations;(d) Encourage, and where appropriate require, business enterprises to communicate
how they address their human rights impacts.
The State-business nexus
4. States should take additional steps to protect against human rights abuses by businessenterprises that are owned or controlled by the State, or that receive substantial support andservices from State agencies such as export credit agencies and official investment insurance or guarantee agencies, including, where appropriate, by requiring human rights due
diligence.

* Text taken from the Annex of the Report of the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on the issue of humanrights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John RuggieねAdvance Edited Version, 21 March
2011, A/HRC/17/31/. Full text available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/A-HRC-17-31_AEV.pdf.

A Facilitator’s Training Manual151

5. States should exercise adequate oversight in order to meet their international humanrights obligations when they contract with, or legislate for, business enterprises to provide
services that may impact upon the enjoyment of human rights.
6. States should promote respect for human rights by business enterprises with which they
conduct commercial transactions.
Supporting business respect for human rights in conflict-affected areas
7. Because the risk of gross human rights abuses is heightened in conflict-affected areas,
States should help ensure that business enterprises operating in those contexts are not involved with such abuses, including by:(a) Engaging at the earliest stage possible with business enterprises to help them identify, prevent and mitigate the human rights-related risks of their activities and business
relationships;(b) Providing adequate assistance to business enterprises to assess and address theheightened risks of abuses, paying special attention to both gender-based and sexual
violence;(c) Denying access to public support and services for a business enterprise that is involved
with gross human rights abuses and refuses to cooperate in addressing the situation;(d) Ensuring that their current policies, legislation, regulations and enforcement measures are effective in addressing the risk of business involvement in gross human rights
abuses.
Ensuring policy coherence
8. States should ensure that governmental departments, agencies and other State-based
institutions that shape business practices are aware of and observe the State’s human rights
obligations when fulfilling their respective mandates, including by providing them with
relevant information, training and support.
9. States should maintain adequate domestic policy space to meet their human rights obligations when pursuing business-related policy objectives with other States or businessenterprises, for instance through investment treaties or contracts.
10. States, when acting as members of multilateral institutions that deal with business related
issues, should:(a) Seek to ensure that those institutions neither restrain the ability of their member
States to meet their duty to protect nor hinder business enterprises from respecting
human rights;(b) Encourage those institutions, within their respective mandates and capacities, to promote business respect for human rights and, where requested, to help States meet their
duty to protect against human rights abuse by business enterprises, including throughtechnical assistance, capacity-building and awareness-raising;(c) Draw on these Guiding Principles to promote shared understanding and advanceinternational cooperation in the management of business and human rights challenges.

152

Business, Human Rights and Northeast Asia

II. The corporate responsibility to respect human rights
A. Foundational principles
11. Business enterprises should respect human rights. This means that they should avoid
infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts
with which they are involved.
12. The responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights refers to internationally recognized human rights understood, at a minimum, as those expressed in theInternational Bill of Human Rights and the principles concerning fundamental rights set
out in the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles andRights at Work.
13. The responsibility to respect human rights requires that business 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 totheir operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they havenot contributed to those impacts
14. The responsibility of business enterprises to respect human rights applies to all enterprises regardless of their size, sector, operational context, ownership and structure. Nevertheless,the scale and complexity of the means through which enterprises meet that responsibility
may vary according to these factors and with the severity of the enterprise’s adverse humanrights impacts.
15. In order to meet their responsibility to respect human rights, business enterprises shouldhave in place policies and processes appropriate to their size and circumstances, including:(a) A policy commitment to meet their responsibility to respect human rights;(b) A human rights due-diligence process to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for
how they address their impacts on human rights;(c) Processes to enable the remediation of any adverse human rights impacts they cause
or to which they contribute.
B. Operational principles
Policy commitment
16. As the basis for embedding their responsibility to respect human rights, business enterprises should express their commitment to meet this responsibility through a statementof policy that:(a) Is approved at the most senior level of the business enterprise;(b) Is informed by relevant internal and/or external expertise;(c) Stipulates the enterprise’s human rights expectations of personnel, business partners
and other parties directly linked to its operations, products or services;(d) Is publicly available and communicated internally and externally to all personnel,
business partners and other relevant parties;

A Facilitator’s Training Manual153

(e) Is reflected in operational policies and procedures necessary to embed it throughout
the business enterprise.
Human rights due diligence
17. In order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their adverse
human rights impacts, business enterprises should carry out human rights due diligence.
The process should include assessing actual and potential human rights impacts, integrating and acting upon the findings, tracking responses, and communicating how impacts are
addressed. Human rights due diligence:(a) Should cover adverse human rights impacts that the business enterprise may cause
or contribute to through its own activities, or which may be directly linked to its operations, products or services by its business relationships;(b) Will vary in complexity with the size of the business enterprise, the risk of severe
human rights impacts, and the nature and context of its operations;(c) Should be ongoing, recognizing that the human rights risks may change over timeas the business enterprise’s operations and operating context evolve.
18. In order to gauge human rights risks, business enterprises should identify and assess any
actual or potential adverse human rights impacts with which they may be involved either
through their own activities or as a result of their business relationships. This process should:(a) Draw on internal and/or independent external human rights expertise;(b) Involve meaningful consultation with potentially affected groups and other relevant
stakeholders, as appropriate to the size of the business enterprise and the nature andcontext of the operation.
19. In order to prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts, business enterprises
should integrate the findings from their impact assessments across relevant internal functions and processes, and take appropriate action.
(a) Effective integration requires that:(i) Responsibility for addressing such impacts is assigned to the appropriate leveland function within the business enterprise;(ii) Internal decision-making, budget allocations and oversight processes enable effective responses to such impacts.
(b) Appropriate action will vary according to:(i) Whether the business enterprise causes or contributes to an adverse impact, or
whether it is involved solely because the impact is directly linked to its operations,products or services by a business relationship;(ii) The extent of its leverage in addressing the adverse impact.
20. In order to verify whether adverse human rights impacts are being addressed, businessenterprises should track the effectiveness of their response. Tracking should:(a) Be based on appropriate qualitative and quantitative indicators;(b) Draw on feedback from both internal and external sources, including affectedstakeholders.
21. In order to account for how they address their human rights impacts, business enterprises
should be prepared to communicate this externally, particularly when concerns are raised
154

Business, Human Rights and Northeast Asia

by or on behalf of affected stakeholders. Business enterprises whose operations or operating contexts pose risks of severe human rights impacts should report formally on how they
address them. In all instances, communications should:(a) Be of a form and frequency that reflect an enterprise’s human rights impacts and thatare accessible to its intended audiences;(b) Provide information that is sufficient to evaluate the adequacy of an enterprise’s
response to the particular human rights impact involved;(c) In turn not pose risks to affected stakeholders, personnel or to legitimate requirements of commercial confidentiality.
Remediation
22. Where business enterprises identify that they have caused or contributed to adverse impacts, they should provide for or cooperate in their remediation through legitimate processes.
Issues of context
23. In all contexts, business enterprises should:(a) Comply with all applicable laws and respect internationally recognized human rights,
wherever they operate;(b) Seek ways to honour the principles of internationally recognized human rights when
faced with conflicting requirements;(c) Treat the risk of causing or contributing to gross human rights abuses as a legal
compliance issue wherever they operate.
24. Where it is necessary to prioritize actions to address actual and potential adverse humanrights impacts, business enterprises should first seek to prevent and mitigate those that are
most severe or where delayed response would make them irremediable.
III. Access to remedy
A. Foundational principle
25. As part of their duty to protect against business-related human rights abuse, States musttake appropriate steps to ensure, through judicial, administrative, legislative or other appropriate means, that when such abuses occur within their territory and/or jurisdiction thoseaffected have access to effective remedy.
B. Operational principles
State-based judicial mechanisms
26. States should take appropriate steps to ensure the effectiveness of domestic judicial
mechanisms when addressing business-related human rights abuses, including considering ways to reduce legal, practical and other relevant barriers that could lead to a denial ofaccess to remedy.
State-based non-judicial grievance mechanisms
27. States should provide effective and appropriate non-judicial grievance mechanisms,
alongside judicial mechanisms, as part of a comprehensive State-based system for the remedyof business-related human rights abuse.
A Facilitator’s Training Manual155Non-State-based grievance mechanisms
28. States should consider ways to facilitate access to effective non-State-based grievancemechanisms dealing with business-related human rights harms.
29. To make it possible for grievances to be addressed early and remediated directly, businessenterprises should establish or participate in effective operational-level grievance mechanisms for individuals and communities who may be adversely impacted.
30. Industry, multi-stakeholder and other collaborative initiatives that are based on respectfor human rights-related standards should ensure that effective grievance mechanisms areavailable.
Effectiveness criteria for non-judicial grievance mechanisms
31. In order to ensure their effectiveness, non-judicial grievance mechanisms, both State
based and non-State-based, should be:(a) Legitimate: enabling trust from the stakeholder groups for whose use they are intended, and being accountable for the fair conduct of grievance processes;(b) Accessible: being known to all stakeholder groups for whose use they are intended,and providing adequate assistance for those who may face particular barriers to access;(c) Predictable: providing a clear and known procedure with an indicative timeframe
for each stage, and clarity on the types of process and outcome available and means ofmonitoring implementation;(d) Equitable: seeking to ensure that aggrieved parties have reasonable access to sourcesof information, advice and expertise necessary to engage in a grievance process on fair,
informed and respectful terms;(e) Transparent: keeping parties to a grievance informed about its progress, and providing sufficient information about the mechanism’s performance to build confidence in its
effectiveness and meet any public interest at stake;(f) Rights-compatible: ensuring that outcomes and remedies accord with internationallyrecognized human rights;(g) A source of continuous learning: drawing on relevant measures to identify lessons
for improving the mechanism and preventing future grievances and harms;
Operational-level mechanisms should also be:(h) Based on engagement and dialogue: consulting the stakeholder groups for whose use
they are intended on their design and performance, and focusing on dialogue as the means
to address and resolve grievances.

156

Business, Human Rights and Northeast Asia