Norway

2. The State duty to protect human rights

2.9 International cooperation on CSR [page 27]

Implementation of the UN Guiding Principles will help to ensure a more level playing field and greater transparency and predictability for enterprises with international investments. States should harmonise their expectations in international forums that support, enter into partnerships with and provide guidance to enterprises. Norway is therefore working for the integration of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises into the OECD framework for export financing.20 We also play an active role in the UN, the OECD, the multilateral financial institutions and the regional development banks.

Measures: 

• emphasise the importance of business and human rights in the Human Rights Council;
• work for the global implementation of the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD Guidelines;
• recognising the crucial contribution of business to development, economic growth and job creation, and the fact that states have a duty to protect against human rights abuse, seek to ensure that Norway’s positions in the relevant forums are coherent;
• give priority to institution-building, ensuring favourable framework conditions and developing appropriate legislation for protection against human rights abuses in developing countries where Norway is involved in private sector development;

seek to ensure that the reporting framework set out in the UN Guiding Principles is incorporated into the United Nations Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative.