Colombia

II. The State as an economic actor

Including human rights in the State’s business activity [pages 13-22]

To such end:

2.6 The Ministry of Environment, jointly with the National Authority for Environmental Permits, will strengthen the existence of respect for human rights requirements regarding the Environmental Impact Assessment of companies, and the Business Social Risk Management and Human Rights Plans.

2.7 The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will include the human rights criteria and the DESCA in its business activity related programs.

III. Effective participation of civil society

Guaranteeing the defense and promotion of human rights in business activities

3.1 Within the following year of the Plan being launched, the Task Force on Business and Human Rights will find allies for the training of civil society, special protection groups and small enterprises, regarding the United Nations Guiding Principles and the international standards on human rights and business, and this Plan

3.2 The Direction of Post-conflict and the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace will design a protocol for dialogue among the communities, enterprises and state entities, allowing for the participation of social organization, according to the international standards on business and human rights.

3.3 The Minister of the Interior will propose the inclusion of the business and human rights issue on the agenda of the National Committee for Human Rights Defenders, Social and Community Leaders, as well as the Regional Committees for Guarantees, with the purpose of using them as meeting spaces to settle conflicts with impacts on human rights caused by the business activity.

3.4 Through the Comprehensive Conflict Prevention and Management System, the National Government will create agreement and social talk mechanisms between the Government and its several levels, the communities and the enterprises. The foregoing to create formal dialogue areas for actors with various interests; all of that as the way to contribute to peacebuilding and respect for human rights in the territories. This action will begin its execution once the system is implemented.

3.5 The Ministry of the Interior will organise actions intended to guarantee the necessary safety conditions so the leaders working on business and human rights matters might carry out their activities in proper conditions, according to the current guarantee policy for the defense of human rights.

IV. The State’s Guidance towards respect for human rights in business activities

Tools for the business world

Guaranteeing that business enterprises respect human rights is not a matter of law and supervision only. For such purpose, the State must play a strong guiding role towards respect for human rights in the business world. There are multiple spaces, mechanisms and instances where enterprises engage with the State: the State supervises, the States promotes investments, the States regulates the business practices, etc.

It is highly important that all of the contact points between the State and the enterprises encourage the human rights agenda, responding, in turn, to the most appropriate form. Thus, this section is intended to direct the State action including, but not limited to, regulation matters, conditional business promotion or, sometimes, as information for those who are willing to conduct business in the country4. In every implemented measure, the State must promote the appropriation and leadership of respect for human rights by the related enterprises.

4.1 The Government will strengthen the subscribing to these multi-actor initiatives: Guias Colombia, Swiss Ethical Committee and the Mining-Energy Committee, as well as the implementation of guides or the provided recommendations by such initiatives.

4.2 The Council to the President for Human Rights will have a microsite on its website for the business and human rights issue, where the information on the implementation of this plan will be available.

4.3 With the purpose of preventing enterprises from engaging in actions involving any kind of discrimination, the National Government will boost the knowledge transfer and the transfer of the developed tools in the context of the National Human Rights Strategy in respect of rights to equality and non-discrimination.

4.4 Within the State Policy for the LGBTI population, which the National Government is preparing, business practices respecting, recognizing and appreciating this population’s diversity will be supported.

4.5 The Ministry of Labor will advise the businessmen on the labor inclusion of people with disabilities and employment mediation services, in agreement with the National Public Policy on Disability and Social Inclusion.

4.6 The Council to the President for Women Equality will strengthen the coordination for the application of the international standards on women’s rights, intended to guarantee such rights in the business world.

4.7 The Ministry of Labor and the Colombian Institution for Family Welfare will strengthen actions intended to provide advice, training and monitoring to enterprises in respect of the integral protection of the children’s rights, as well as the implementation of the children’s rights and business principles in the priority sectors.

4.8 The Ministry of Labor will strengthen actions to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, and will create strategies engaging the private sector in the actions to prevent the violation of the children’s and adolescents’ rights.

4.9 The Ministry of Labor will strengthen actions aiming at protecting the rights to union freedom and collection negotiations.

4.10 The Ministry of Labor will propose the inclusion of the business and human rights matter in the National Agreement Commission and in the Social Talk Plans of the Department Agreement Subcommittees.

4.11 The Ministry of the Interior will implement actions at the institutional level to identify the real issues in the prior-consultation process and its effect on human rights. It will also improve such practices allowing for the involvement of the affected population, protecting and respecting the rights of the native, afro-descendant and ethnic minority communities, according to the OIL agreements and the standards of the Inter-American Human Rights System.

4.12 In the year following the Plan launching, the Ministry of Mines and Energy will design a strategy to step forward as for the respect for human rights in the mining-energy sector, which will adjust the Principles and Criteria of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to the national needs.

V. Human Rights Due Diligence

Defining the concept and guiding through effective implementation mechanisms

Due diligence is understood as the set of measures systematically implemented by an enterprise acting cautiously, to fulfill its respect for human rights duty, considering the specific circumstances according to the activity, operation context, scope and similar factors. Since this is a concept to be interpreted in each case as an appropriate response to the risks of impacts on human rights by the business activities, the State must determine how companies are expected to act so they can execute human rights due diligence. Thus, it will encourage the development of mechanisms and tools allowing for the practical implementation by business and public entities of the human rights due diligence. The entities must act as follows:

5.1 The Task Force will coordinate the preparation of a guide intended to define what executing due diligence means; what the practice is, particularly applied to the high risk business activity sectors.

5.2 The State entities with the highest procurement volume will determine and implement due diligence mechanisms in their own procurement processes.

5.3 Promote the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles and other international standards on business and human rights by the trades and the enterprises part thereof, so they may adopt human rights policies. Thus, during the first year of the execution of this Plan, the Council to the President for Human Rights will convene high level meetings with the trades to determine the inclusion goals in the multi-actor initiatives and human rights performance follow-up mechanisms. These actions must be coordinated with the entities of the Task Force, especially with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism and in cooperation with the Direction of Post-conflict.

5.4 The Council to the President for Human Rights and the Ministry of National Defense will encourage the implementation of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. To that end, they will alternately engage in the areas where such issue is treated.

5.5 Develop a guide on the increasing human rights risks of the business activities in zones historically affected by the armed conflict. Thus, the Council to the President for Human Rights and the Direction of Post-conflict will coordinate with the Comprehensive Conflict Prevention and Management System the development of such guide, which must be worked upon in a participatory manner with the enterprises and the civil society.

According to the provided period to create the Comprehensive Conflict Prevention and Management System, this action must be carried out within the year following the coming into operation of such system.

5.6 The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism will promote the business efforts to adjust their policies to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, for which purposes it will assess, within six month from the execution of this Plan, its strategy to disseminate the Guidelines so as to make them widely known.

5.7 The Task Force will assess and analyze the formulae for enterprises to include the reporting of the human rights due diligence in their Sustainability Reports or rendering of accounts. Such assessment will be carried out within the year following the launching of this Plan and accompanied by the several sectors.

The enterprises duty to respect human rights

The responsibility to respect human rights is a “global standard of expected conduct for all business enterprises wherever they operate. It exists independently of States’ abilities and/or willingness to fulfill their own human rights obligations, and does not diminish those obligations. And it exists over and above compliance with national laws and regulations protecting human rights. Addressing adverse human rights impacts requires taking adequate measures for their prevention, mitigation and, where appropriate”.

Upon this Plan, the National Government will focus its efforts on consolidating the progress of the business commitment to the respect for human rights in the following lines:

• Generate a culture of human rights and peacebuilding in the business sector.
• Foster and guide the implementation of due diligence mechanisms.
• Generate incentives for large, medium, small and micro enterprises, for human rights to become a competitive advantage.
• Coordinate the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions for major impact when proposing an agenda where human rights are the common concept framework for the alliance between the State and the private sector.

VI. Culture of Human Rights and peacebuilidng in the business sector

Two political agendas working together

6.1 The Council to the President for Human Rights, within the following year of this Plan being launched, will encourage business to define and publicly disclose their political commitment to respect human rights.

6.2 The Administrative Department for Social Welfare will strengthen the alliances between the private sector and the Administrative Social Inclusion and Reconciliation sector with a view to eradicate extreme poverty and overcome vulnerability conditions.

6.3 The Unit for Care and Integral Repair for Victims, as the coordinator of the National Care and Integral Repair for Victims (SNARIV), jointly with the Direction of Post-conflict, will develop strategies aiming at getting companies to contribute to the recovery of historical memory for peacebuilding, reconciliation and promotion of human rights and the reconstruction of the fabric of society, wherefore memory and peacebuilding culture initiatives might be created.

6.4 The Council to the President for Human Rights, the Colombian Agency for Reintegration and the Direction of post-conflict will prepare a joint strategy for companies to actively promote major participation of people in the reintegration process into the business field, in the production field, and in the peacebuilding processes.

6.5 The Task Force will encourage enterprises to exchange their experiences in order to better understand the human rights and peacebuilding management.

6.6 The Direction of Post-conflict will hold a public debate on the role and power of business enterprises in peacebuilding.

 VII. Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence

7.1 The Task Force, advised by the Expert Committee, will encourage talk fora to determine the best formulae for enterprises to establish easy-to-access, transparent and effective complaint and claims offices or mechanisms for prevention and mitigation and remedy of adverse human rights effects as may be caused by their activities.

7.2 The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism will encourage large enterprises to foster and boost their human rights support and guidance efforts for such SME they have business relationships with.

7.3 The Ministry of Labor will guarantee respect for the labor rights.

7.4 The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism will encourage business enterprises to foster talks with consumers.

7.5 The Office of the Transparency Secretary of the Presidency of Republic will support the adoption of transparency covenants by enterprises so as to contribute to the corruption struggles in corporate governments, for which purposes a year will be given upon the Plan launching.

7.6 The Task Force will tend towards enterprises, through their complaint offices, receiving and diligently managing the citizen and community claims, as considered to be affected by the adverse effects caused by their operations.

7.7 The Task Force, advised by the Expert Commission, will encourage companies to have follow-up Strategies in place to know about the progress and follow-up to the mitigation of adverse impacts caused by the development of business activities.

7.8T he Task Force, advised by the Expert Commission, will encourage business enterprises to assess their risks and impacts on people and the environment as a result of their operation.

VIII. Respect for human rights as a competitive advantage

The State’s incentives for diligent business enterprises

This section aims at structuring the assistance provided by the State to the business enterprises to such end, through the proposal of specific incentives providing the business enterprises with more facility to operate.

8.1 The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism will design a differentiated incentive strategy for large, medium and small enterprises with the purpose of having them to implement human rights policies involving: Public commitment, Due diligence procedure, Result, and verification mechanism

8.2 The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, supported by the Council to the President for Human Rights, the Direction of Post-conflict and the National Authority for Environmental Permits, will incentivize the establishment of public-private alliances for the creation of social and environmental quality enterprises, particularly in the unfocused rural field.

8.3 The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, jointly with the Council to the President for Human Rights will create a Human Rights business incentive to be provided every year and to value the advances the business enterprises might have in adopting the international standards on business and human rights in their operations. This incentive regulation will be developed by the Task Force within the year following this Plan launching.

8.4 The Council to the President for Human Rights will publicly disclose on its website the advances and good practices implemented by the enterprises in respect of the human rights implementation in the business field.

8.5 The Council to the President for Human Rights will coordinate an annual international event with the international community, where business enterprises with the largest progress might show and share their challenges and issues.

8.6 The Council to the President for Human Rights, jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, will facilitate international exchange among business enterprises for better practices in the implementation of human rights in the business activity.

8.7 The Direction of Post-conflict, in cooperation with the Council to the President for Human Rights will identify and recognize the joint work opportunities between the business and the public sectors for development and peacebuilding.

8.8 The Council to the President for Human Rights will generate cooperation strategies between the State and the enterprises for the implementation of affirmative actions.

8.9 SENA will boost and disseminate the business enterprises’ support to the processes developed by the State for the workers’ training.

 IX. Corporate Social Responsibility and Respect for Human Rights

Coordination framework between the State and the business sector

9.1 The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, jointly with the Council to the President for Human Rights will support the coordination of corporate human rights policies with the Corporate Social Responsibility institutional programs.

9.2 The Corporate Social Responsibility programs are to foster productivity in the areas of influence of their projects to generate the development and economic empowerment of communities under the due diligence and respect for human rights principle.

9.3 Increase the recognition of Corporate Social Responsibility and dissemination of good practices by establishing sector platforms for the enterprises and stakeholders to make commitments and jointly supervise progress. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism will supervise this process.

9.4 With the purposes of improving trust levels within enterprises, and follow up to such levels, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism will lead and organize the performance of surveys on public trust in business. Such surveys will include questions to find out about the people’s perception of how business enterprises respect human rights and of the remediation mechanisms provided by them.

9.5 The Council to the President for Human Rights will assist the Ministry of National Education to lead the integration of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility into education, training and research. A plan will be thus created, which will be supported by Task Force.