The European Parliament has adopted its annual report on EU’s action on human rights and democracy, in which it called for the EU’s and European companies’ leadership to promote international standards in business and human rights. The MEPs joined a growing number of companies supporting a legislative proposal on corporate human rights and due diligence to prevent abuses in the global operations of companies. They also called for enhanced access to judicial remedy for victims of corporate misconduct.

The report highlighted the responsibility of European enterprises in ensuring that their operations and supply chains are not implicated in human right abuses, as well as the role of the EU and member states in fully implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, particularly by adopting national action plans as soon as possible.

The chair of the RBC Working Group Heidi Hautala commented:

More and more companies are calling for mandatory due diligence legislation, and the EU must respond to this call. I am pleased that the parliament has now united not only calling for legislation on human rights and due diligence, but also for access to remedy for the victims of corporate misconduct – something that the EU has done very little about up to date. The year 2020 must be the year of action, and when the EU acts, the impact reaches far beyond the borders of EU.

Read the full text (particularly paragraphs 50-53) here.