The document discusses human rights and responsible business practices from a human rights perspective. It outlines key characteristics of human rights like being inherent, fundamental, inalienable, and universal. It then discusses international conventions and declarations related to human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document also summarizes rights protected in the Indian constitution like right to equality, freedom, protection from exploitation, and developmental rights to food, health, education, water and air as derived from right to life. It emphasizes that businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights in their activities and relationships.

1. Responsible Business with
Human Rights Perspective

2. What is Human Right
• Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings,
whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or
ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status.
• We are all equally entitled to our human rights without
discrimination.
• These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and
indivisible.

3. Characteristic of Human Rights
1. Inherent – Human Rights are inherent because they are not granted
by any person or authority.
2. Fundamental – Human Rights are fundamental rights because
without them, the life and dignity of man will be meaningless.
3. Inalienable – Human Rights are inalienable because:
a. They cannot be rightfully taken away from a free individual.
b. They cannot be given away or be forfeited.

4. Characteristic of Human Rights
4. Imprescriptible – Human Rights do not prescribe and cannot be lost even
if man fails to use or assert them, even by a long passage of time.
5. Indivisible – Human Rights are not capable of being divided. They cannot
be denied even when other rights have already been enjoyed.
6. Universal – Human Rights are universal in application and they apply
irrespective of one’s origin, status, or condition or place where one lives.
Human rights are enforceable without national border.
7. Interdependent – Human Rights are interdependent because the
fulfillment or exercise of one cannot be had without the realization of the
other.

5. UDHR – Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• On 10 December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations
adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
as under:-
• “All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and
fundamental freedoms.”
• “The United Nations is committed to upholding, promoting, and
protecting the human rights of every individual. This commitment
stems from the United Nations Charter, which reaffirms the faith of
the peoples of the world in fundamental human rights and in the
dignity and worth of the human person.”

6. UN Conventions on Human Rights
Convention Year India
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1966 1979
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR)
1966 1979
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (CERD)
1966 1968*
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
1979 1993

7. UN Conventions on Human Rights
Convention Year India
United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) 1984 No
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989 1992
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW or
more often MWC)
1990 No
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) 2006 2007

8. ILO Conventions on Human Rights
Convention Year India
Forced Labour Convention, 1930 1930 1954
Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 1958
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 2000
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention 1958 1960
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize
Convention,
1948 No
Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention 1949 No
Minimum Age Convention, 1973 No
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 No

9. Constitution of India

10. Constitution of India
Fundamental Rights includes:-
The Fundamental Rights are defined as the basic human rights of all citizens.
• Right to Equality
• Right to Freedom
• Right against Exploitation
• Right to Freedom of Religion
• Cultural and Educational Rights
• Right to Constitutional Remedies

11. Constitution of India
• RIGHT TO EQUALITY
• The Right to Equality is one of the chief guarantees of the
Constitution of India. Articles 14–18 of Constitution highlights the
right to equality.
• It refers to the equality in the eyes of law irrespective of caste, race,
religion, place of birth or sex.

12. Constitution of India
• RIGHT TO FREEDOM
• The Right to Freedom is covered in Articles 19–22, with the view of
guaranteeing individual rights. But some of the rights are subject to
security of the State, friendly relation with foreign countries, public
order, decency or morality and for which certain restrictions may be
imposed by the State on individual liberty under specified condition.

13. Constitution of India
• ARTICLE 19
• It guarantees the citizens of India the following six fundamental freedoms
subject to certain restrictions:-
1. Freedom of Speech and Expression
2. Freedom of Assembly
3. Freedom of form Associations
4. Freedom of Movement
5. Freedom of Residence and Settlement
6. Freedom of Profession, Occupation, Trade and Business

14. Constitution of India
• ARTICLE 21
• Article 21 prevents the encroachment /protection of life or personal
liberty by the State.
• No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except
according to procedure established by law.

15. Constitution of India
• RIGHT AGAINST EXPLOITATION
• The Right against Exploitation, contained in Articles 23–24, lays down
certain provisions to prevent exploitation of the weaker sections of
the society by individuals or the State.
• Child labour and Begar is prohibited under the Right against
Exploitation.

16. Constitution of India
• RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION
• The Right to Freedom of Religion, covered in Articles 25–28, provides
religious freedom to all citizens and ensures a secular state in India.
According to the Constitution, there is no official State religion, and
the State is required to treat all religions impartially and neutrally.

17. Constitution of India
• CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS
• The Cultural and Educational rights, given in Articles 29 and 30, are
measures to protect the rights of cultural, linguistic and religious
minorities, by enabling them to conserve their heritage and
protecting them against discrimination.

18. Constitution of India
• RIGHT TO CONSTITUTIONAL REMEDIES
• The Right to Constitutional Remedies empowers citizens to approach
the Supreme Court of India to seek enforcement, or protection
against infringement, of their Fundamental Rights.
• It is covered in Article 32.

19. Right to Development

20. Development as a human right
The UN proclaimed development as a human right in its 1986 Declaration on the
Right to Development.
• The Declaration on the Right to Development Article 1 states:
• “The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human
person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic,
social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental
freedoms can be fully realized.”
• Therefore the Right to Development is the right to a process of development
where all human rights/economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political
rights/ are realized.
• The key to such a policy is the approach and process which should be equitable, accountable,
participatory, transparent and non-discriminatory.

21. Basic Rights and the Right to Development
1. Right to Food
• In 2001, India's Constitutional Court recognizes the right to food, transforming policy choices into
enforceable rights
• In 2011, the National Food Security Bill, 2011, popularly known as Right to Food Bill was
proposed. In 2013, National Food Security Act, 2013 was passed by the Indian Parliament. The Act
guarantees subsidised food to 50% of the urban population and 75% of the rural population.
• "India provides one of the best examples in the world in terms of the justiciability of the right to
food. The Constitution of India prohibits discrimination and recognizes all human rights. The right
to life is recognized as a directly justiciable fundamental right (art. 21), while the right to food is
defined as a directive principle of State policy (art. 47). As it has interpreted these provisions, the
Supreme Court of India has found that the Government has a constitutional obligation to take
steps to fight hunger and extreme poverty and to ensure a life with dignity for all individuals

22. Basic Rights and the Right to Development
2. Right to Health
• Although the Indian Constitution does not explicitly mention health
or health care as a fundamental right, the justiciability of right to
health is based on right to life and liberty (Article 21 of the
Fundamental Rights).
• The various Directive Principles, which talks about health and health
care, are Articles 39, 41, 42, and 47

23. Basic Rights and the Right to Development
3. Right to Education
• ‘The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act' also
known as RTE‘ was enacted in 2009.
• Education has finally been granted the status of a basic right of free
and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India
under Article 21 A of Constitution, and several schemes have been
drawn up to implement RTE on the ground.

24. Basic Rights and the Right to Development
4. Right to clean Water and Air
• In India, where the right to water is not enshrined as a fundamental
right in the national Constitution, courts at both state and federal
level have interpreted Article 21 of the Constitution, the right to life,
as encompassing the right to safe and sufficient water and
sanitation.
• In (1991) 1 SCC 598, the Supreme Court held that right to life is a
fundamental right under Art. 21 of the Constitution and it include
the right to enjoyment of pollution free water and air for full
enjoyment of life.

25. The corporate responsibility
• The responsibility relates explicitly to the risks to human rights that
can result from companies’ activities and business relationships.
• Identifying and addressing human rights risks effectively requires an
understanding of the perspectives of those who may be impacted.
• The responsibility to respect human rights applies across the
company’s own activities and also to its business relationships.
• The responsibility to respect human rights is distinct from a
company’s efforts to support or promote human rights.

26. UN Guiding Principle
on
Business and human Rights

27. UNGP
• International human rights treaties generally do not impose direct
legal obligations on business enterprises.
• It is the duty of States to translate their international human rights
law obligations into domestic law and provide for their enforcement.
• Indeed, the laws of all States include various protections against
human rights abuse by business, including labour laws, non-
discrimination laws, health and safety laws, environmental laws and
similar.

28. UNGP
• The Guiding Principles launched in 2015 make clear that where
national laws fall below the standard of internationally recognized
human rights, companies should respect the higher standard; and
where national laws conflict with those standards, companies should
seek ways to still honour the principles of those standards within the
bounds of national law.
• Internationally recognized human rights are, therefore, relevant for
business beyond mere compliance with the law.

29. UNGP
• The International Bill of Human Rights and the core ILO conventions
provide the basic reference points for businesses in starting to understand
what human rights are; how their own activities and business relationships
may affect them; and how to ensure that they prevent or mitigate the risk
of adverse impacts.
• Depending on the circumstances of their operations, companies may need
to consider additional human rights standards in order to ensure that they
respect the human rights of people who may be disadvantaged,
marginalized or excluded from society and, therefore, particularly
vulnerable to impacts on their human rights, such as children, women,
indigenous peoples, people belonging to ethnic or other minorities, or
persons with disabilities.

30. Three Pillars of UNGP
• The State duty to protect human rights against abuse by third
parties, including business, through appropriate policies, legislation,
regulations and adjudication;
• The corporate responsibility to respect human rights, meaning to act
with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others and
address adverse impacts with which they are involved;
• The need for greater access to effective remedy, both judicial and
non-judicial, for victims of business-related human rights abuse