Are business and human rights incompatible ?

At the beginning I didn't think so, when we set up as a social business and made IBHR our policy guide.

'The fundamental policy guide for P-CED is the International Bill of Human Rights. IBHR is comprised of Universal Declaration of Human Rights; International Covenant of Civil and Politial Rights, and International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. P-CED’s main focus falls within sphere the economic, social and cultural rights, ICESCR.'

Our work would take us to Ukraine and the issue of childten being a commodity from which business was creating a profit. Racketeering and oganised crime to put it plainly There wasn't one business willing to stand beside us.  

From some prominent corporations are in the crosshairs:

"The 'bluewash' issue has come up particularly in connection with the Global Compact. Several major companies which are members have been accused of engaging in practices that are contrary to the principles of the Compact. An egregious example is that of baby food companies, specifically Nestlé and Danone, both active members of the Compact, and their efforts to undermine the WHO/UNICEF International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes."

As many in social enterprise will know, Danone is a social business partner with Grameen Bank and Nestle operates a Creating Shared Value initiative to deliver pharnacueticals to those in the developing world who might otherwise be denied access.

If these social commitments are outwieghed by the way in which the corporation does business, as usual, it doesnt' add up to net social benefit

Our experience of both the UN and development agencies had left much to be desired wirh it came to ethics.

“UNICEF was willfully blind to the matter because it was just too dangerous to bother to intercede  Powerful interests remained entrenched with enforcers to make it dangerous.  Jurists were correct, in my view.  It was more a mafia operation than anything else, aimed at misappropriation and laundering of large money.  That was perfectly congruent with how Ukraine operated before the revolution.  USAID wanted nothing to do with it, nor would they fund any organizations or activists who might try.  Some things could be done and some things could not be done.  Helping these children was something that could not be done.  So, I exposed it and made it the central focus and metric of Ukraine’s microeconomic development blueprint.  In that context, it was far more difficult to ignore, dismiss, or argue about.  For about six months, I really did not expect to survive.  Nevertheless, Ukraine’s government finally conceded the point and announced the opening of more than four hundred new treatment centers for children who were theretofore invisible under tight and deadly enforcement.”

In December 2008, we'd been told by the FCO

"Thank you for your e-mail of 9 December. I am sorry that you have experienced difficulties in your previous contacts with the FCO. I can at least assure you that the Ukraine desk at the FCO, and our Embassy in Kyiv, are now aware about the activities of your organisation. "

The FCO now hosts the portal on guiding principles for business and human rights

At the top however, the rhetoric was quite different, even advocating a people-centred economy as the President of the UN General Assembyl had done,.

“The anti-values of greed, individualism and exclusion should be replaced by solidarity, common good and inclusion. The objective of our economic and social activity should not be the limitless, endless, mindless accumulation of wealth in a profit-centred economy but rather a people-centred economy that guarantees human needs, human rights, and human security, as well as conserves life on earth. These should be universal values that underpin our ethical and moral responsibility.”

(Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, the President of the United Nations General Assembly speaking in 2009)

It mighrt well have been lifted fron our own work:

'This is a long-term permanently sustainable program, the basis for "people-centered" economic development. Core focus is always on people and their needs, with neediest people having first priority – as contrasted with the eternal chase for financial profit and numbers where people, social benefit, and human well-being are often and routinely overlooked or ignored altogether. This is in keeping with the fundamental objectives of Marshall Plan: policy aimed at hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. This is a bottom-up approach, starting with Ukraine's poorest and most desperate citizens, rather than a "top-down" approach that might not ever benefit them. They cannot wait, particularly children. Impedance by anyone or any group of people constitutes precisely what the original Marshall Plan was dedicated to opposing. Those who suffer most, and those in greatest need, must be helped first -- not secondarily, along the way or by the way. '

(People-Centered Economic Development - A 'Marshall Plan' for Ukraine 2007)  

There is however quire a distance between rhetoric and taking action, with no indication of the UN coming on side