Chile

Prologue: Business and Human Rights for Sustainable Development

I. Value of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (page 15-16)

…It is worth mentioning that the Guiding Principles have had an important reach since their adoption; they have been included in a series of regulations and initiatives aimed at promoting a responsible corporate behaviour, including, for example, the Global Compact, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, ILO Tripartite Statement, ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, UNICEF Children’s Rights and Business Principles, Save the Children and Global Compact, among others.12 They have also being included in new regulations such as the “Modern Slavery Act” or the law against modern slavery in the United Kingdom; Europe’s Guidelines concerning Transparency, and the newly passed French act about due diligence in human rights13, and, in practice, by many enterprises.

Responding to national and international calls, and convinced by the usefulness of these Plans as a cross-cutting tool, Chile decided to prepare its first National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, thus highlighting its connection with other global frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Climate Change Agenda, as well as with other international instruments concerning human rights.

Pillar 1: The State Duty to Protect Human Rights

Strand 1: Training in the Field of Business and Human Rights

Action point 1.1 (page 29)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will: …

  • Work to build capabilities in the staff working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the development of an e-learning course on business and human rights. …
  • Strengthen the diplomats’ capabilities in the field of business and human rights, with the purpose that they have the right tools to support Chilean businesses abroad – through the development of an annual Module on Business and Human Rights taught at the Diplomatic Academy. It will promote, among the Chilean embassies posted abroad, tools allowing to guide Chilean businesses operating in those countries about risks in the fields of business and human rights.
  • Develop projects of cooperation and exchange of experiences about business and human rights with Chilean embassies posted in countries showing more progress in this field, through its Programme of Activities Abroad (PAAE).
  • The General Directorate of International Economic Relations (DIRECON), will carry out internal actions to promote knowledge around business and human rights with the purpose that staff working in this Directorate take these criteria into account when developing their activities.
  • DIRECON will periodically report to the Trade Offices and Regional Offices of the Exports Promotion Directorate (ProChile) about business and human rights.

Action Point 1.2 (page 30)

The Under-Secretariat of Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice will:

  • In the context of its mandate to design, foster and coordinate education and training actions concerning human rights for staff working for State bodies, promote the inclusion of human rights and business content in trainings and courses that come to its attention in its articulating role.
  • Promote the inclusion of human rights and business content in training sessions for people joining State work through the Senior Public Management System led by the Civil Service.
  • Promote the inclusion of business and human rights in training sessions for the Armed Forces and the Order and Security Forces, when relevant, according to the trainees’ profiles.
  • Include human rights and business in a future Handbook about the focus on human rights of public policies.

Action Point 1.4 (page 31)

The Ministry of Energy will:

  • Through the Division of Social Involvement and Dialogue, within the implementation framework of the Indigenous Chapter of the 2050 Energy Policy, perform the following
    actions:
  • Train indigenous peoples about business and human rights. This initiative will be performed in conjunction with the Indigenous Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Social Development, which will facilitate coordination between initiatives carried out by both institutions within the context of the Action Plan.

Action Point 1.5 (page 32)

The Ministry of Social Development will:

  • Through the Division of Public-Private Cooperation, include the focus on business, human rights and sustainable development in training activities about Public Incentives to Benefit Social Development by means of:
  • Workshop-seminars about Public Incentives to Benefit Social Development for Business Enterprises and public-private cooperation in accordance with the Guiding Principles and the 2030 Agenda, thus strengthening the State-Business nexus and promoting due diligence in human rights.
  • Introduction of a module about the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and their connection with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” in a workshop-seminar organised by business senior and executive staff.
  • Through the National Disability Service, the Ministry of Social Development will:
  • Train public and private business enterprises to include inclusive for disabled people in inductions and training programmes.
  • Organise seminars for public services and bodies, business enterprises and the civil society to address subject concerning disability. Also, a course about Human Rights and Disability will be given at universities, and outreach actions will be carried out involving public services and bodies, business enterprises and the civil society.

Action Point 1.6 (pages 32-33)

The Ministry for the Environment will:

  • With the support of expert organisations, coordinate internal training at a national and international level, and at a macro-zone level in the Ministry of the Environment, the Superintendence of the Environment (SMA) and the Environmental Assessment Service (EAS) …
  • Upon creation of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service and of the Protected Areas National Service, carry out an outreach and training process including an analysis about their relationship with business and human rights.

Action Point 1.7 (page 33)

The National Human Rights Institute will:

  • Train staff working in regions about business, human rights and sustainable development, in line with the 2030 Agenda. …
  • Introduce the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the recommendations they submit to the State about cases documented by this institution. These recommendations, and those coming from the international human rights system will be considered in training sessions given to public officers about business and human rights.

Strand 2: Dialogue

Action Point 2.1 (page 34)

Through the Indigenous Affairs Coordination Unit of the Ministry of Social Development, opportunities for involvement and dialogue will be generated at a local level between business enterprises and indigenous peoples aimed at preparing a territorial development plan seeking to generate a dialogue at a local level involving municipalities, thus carrying out a participatory exercise about what happens in a territory and how this is planned. This would consider the participation and planning demands regarding territorial matters of indigenous peoples submitted within the context of the Participatory Dialogues of this Plan, as well as what is set out in Convention 169, the national regulations connected with such Convention, and the national instruments of territorial planning.

Strand 3: Inclusion and Non-Discrimination

Action Point 3.2 (pages 36-37)

The Ministry of Social Development will: …

  • Promote, through the National Disability Service, the labour insertion of people with disabilities by taking the following specific steps: …
  • An initiative to strengthen the work of Municipal Offices for Labour Intermediation (OMIL) will be carried out to attend people with disabilities – through a Local Development Strategy.

Strand 4: Transparency and Participation

Action Point 4.2 (page 40)

The Public-Private Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Social Development will include questions about the Guiding Principles in the 2017 Study about Social Performance of Business Enterprises, as well as the result of these variables in the final performance report, which will include an analysis of the results and their relationship with the SDGs. Medium and large-size public and private business enterprises will participate in the study.

Action Point 4.4 (pages 40- 41)

The Ministry for the Environment: …

  • Commits itself to strengthen the effective enforcement of Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration about participation, access to information and awareness concerning environmental issues, within the context of the preparation of the Regional Instrument on Access Rights to Environmental Issues. …
  • Will promote the availability of spaces for dialogue and participation regarding climate change actions, including the organisation of workshops and public consultation meetings for the preparation of sector adaptation plans. This will be included within the framework of the 2017-2022 National Action Plan for Climate Change -under preparation- which includes the concept of equity as a guiding principle, and gives special consideration to subject such as gender equality, human rights and indigenous peoples.
  • Will seek to incorporate the gender focus in the next climate change adaptation plans, with the purpose of including the participation of women in the preparation and implementation of actions about this subject.

Action Point 4.5 (page 41)

The Superintendence for the Environment will promote that the issue of business and human rights is addressed in the Civil Society Council throughout 2017.

Strand 5: Public Procurement

Action Point 5.1 (page 42)

The Chilean System of Public Purchases, (Chilecompra), has the mission to facilitate the contracting of goods and services by the State through a public market web platform, in the different purchase procedures. Chilecompra will: …

  • Carry out initiatives to strengthen the information tool of the public purchase system. This will be made possible by adhering to SEGPRES Open Government Plan, under the commitment to create a set of Guidelines and a Policy of open date promoting and developing the use of open data in public purchase procedures to strengthen transparency of the Chilean System of Public Purchases and foster probity and efficiency in this area.

Strand 6: Strengthening Coherence between Public Policies

Action Point 6.1 (pages 44-45)

Among the efforts being made to implement the 2030 Agenda, the Ministry of Social Development will stress the importance of Human Rights and their relationship with the business industry. For this, the Ministry will:

  • Disseminate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in, at least, two instances of participation and dialogue focused specifically on addressing the subject of rights in the social environment. Business enterprises, academic centres, the civil society, the State and autonomous bodies would participate in these activities.
  • Carry out, for the dissemination of the 2030 Agenda, participation and reflection actions with business enterprises.
  • Organise, during the diagnostic stage of the actions related with the 2030 Agenda, a first analysis workshop aimed at discussing proposals linked with the contribution of the private sector to achieve the SDGs, with the participation of private businesses, academic centres, the civil society, the State and autonomous bodies.

Action Point 6.3 (pages 45-46)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will:

  • Generate an opportunity to discuss, at a national level, about the integration of the Agenda of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, as well as about the challenges of these Agendas about the contribution of business enterprises. Regarding this national commitment, the Ministry is committed to generate cross references about human rights and climate change in the reports prepared about these subjects submitted to international organisations.
  • Through the General Directorate of International Economic Relations, it will: …
    • Disseminate the importance of respecting human rights in global value chains (GVCs), encouraging the introduction of this matter in discussions held and work carried out by the GVC Intergovernmental Group, as well as in presentations to the business community and other agents.

Action Point 6.4 (page 46)

The Ministry of Economy will:

  • Incorporate the Action Plan in the working agenda of the Economic Board integrated by the National Council for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, by following up the indicators proposed in the Action Plan that relate with the design and execution of the said Agenda.
  • Prepare an annual report informing about the relationship between cooperatives and SDGs. This report will include a special chapter about human rights.

Strand 7: Strengthening of Coherence in International Policy

Action Point 7.1 (page 47)

The Ministry of the Environment is currently involved in negotiations of the Regional Instrument about Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration about access to information, participation and justice in environmental matters, where it will take into consideration the business and human rights framework as relevant.

Action Point 7.2 (page 47-48)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will:

  • Through the Directorate of Human Rights:
  • Submit a report with recommendations to the National Council for Sustainable Development about the link between the Guiding Principles and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
  • Create and coordinate a working group aimed at generating material for the annual meetings held by the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights. The working group will meet periodically with the purpose of generating proposals within the framework of this process, which will partially consist in carrying consultations with the civil society to gather material and draft a proposal concerning this matter.
  • Continue promoting the treatment and development of business and human rights in different regional and global fora such as, inter alia, the Pacific Alliance, the Organisation of American States (OAS), CELAC, UNASUR and Mercosur.

Action Point 7.3 (page 48)

The Unit for International Affairs of the Ministry of Labour will: …

  • Promote the Guiding Principles, which build on ILO Conventions on Human and Labour Rights, in different multilateral cooperation scenarios it takes part in.

Strand 9: State Business Enterprises

Action Point 9.3 (page 50)

To strengthen coordination between the Ministries forming part of the Inter-Ministerial Working Group, amplify the impact of this Action Plan, and make known its progress, the Group will carry out the following actions:

  1. Formalise the Inter-Ministerial Working Group and the focal points of the various Ministries composing it, with the purpose of continuing holding periodic meetings and follow up regarding the implementation of this Plan (see Section V, Implementation and Monitoring).
  2. Encourage the adoption of policies, statements or codes of conduct by business enterprises and urge the implementation of mechanisms of due diligence.
  3. Announce progress made in the implementation of the NAP through a banner published on the websites of each relevant Ministry.

Pillar 2: The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights

Strand 1: Contextual Issues: Preparation of Documents allowing Business Enterprises to Understand the Local Context and the Risks of Potential Negative Impacts on Human Rights

Action Point 1.4 (page 53): The Ministry of the Environment will prepare a study about the links between the Law creating the Actual Right of Conservation (DRC) and the Guiding Principles.

Implementation, Monitoring and Follow-Up (page 67-68)

This National Action Plan will last three years, i.e. it will be in place between 2017 and 2019.

The Plan is a first step in a continuous and progressive process. Therefore, this policy is considered a living document whose initiatives will be continuously evaluated and monitored, with the relevant adaptations if necessary. There are elements, actions and initiatives requiring some precisions and adjustments along the development process, for which reason different revision and feedback actions have been taken into consideration allowing to improve and adapt measures that require so.

To ensure an effective implementation and monitoring of the Action Plan, a supplementary document containing indicators has been prepared detailing the institution responsible for enforcing compliance of each measure, indicators, as well as regarding the time defined for that purpose. The responsible institution shall report to the Inter-Ministerial Working Group about the implementation stage of their measures to facilitate the monitoring and follow up process of the Plan.

These indicators will smooth the follow up process of the Plan at a national level, allowing the Chilean State to report before regional and international follow up and evaluation fora about its progress in matters of human rights and sustainable development.

Apart from the supplementary information about indicators, the following actions will be performed to follow up, monitor and give continuity to the Action Plan.

  1. At a national level, the Inter-Ministerial Working Group will be formalised by enacting the relevant Decree. This will have the objective to implement, monitor and follow up the Plan’s optimal implementation. This Working Group will have an Executive Secretariat responsible for coordinating the preparation of the annual report and for its relationship with the Multi- Actor Committee.
  2. The Inter-Ministerial Working Group will prepare an annual report, starting in late-2017, about compliance of measures according to the indicators set out. Before preparing the report, a previous meeting will be held to evaluate the progress and challenges arisen in the implementation of the Plan.
  3. This document will be published in the Action Plan’s webpage; it will also be sent to the authorities and institutions that have contributed in the execution thereof, as well as to representatives of the Judicial and Legislative Powers, with the purpose of reporting about the progress of the Action Plan.
  4. A Multi-Actor Committee will be created with the participation of representatives from the civil society, unions, the business community, indigenous peoples, academia, and the National Human Rights Institute, with the purpose of evaluating the progress contained in the report produced by the Inter-Ministerial Group, and providing feedback and/or recommendations about the effective implementation of the Plan.
  5. Progress achieved by the Action Plan will be also incorporated in reports about the 2030 Agenda in Chile, both regarding the global and regional mechanisms.
  6. The Economic Working Group for implementing the 2030 Agenda will incorporate progress made by the Action Plan to the progress achieved in the SDGs 17 in compliance reports.
  7. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will report to the different international mechanisms of human rights about the progress achieved by the Plan -pursuant to the timeline set out by them.
  8. One year before the term is over, the Inter-Ministerial Working Group will define a roadmap to prepare the Second National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, which will be submitted to the Multi-Actor Committee with the purpose to propose new courses of action and start the second process.