On August 13 the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights adopted the new "U.N. Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights" The norms on the responsibilities of trans-national corporations (TNCs), approved by the Sub-Commission on Human Rights, would make global business, and not only states, responsible for promoting and securing human rights.

The draft norms still have to be put to and endorsed by the 53-nation Human Rights Commission, which meets in early March next year. According to a statement signed by a.o. Amnesty International, Christian Aid and Human Rights Watch it fills the gap by pulling together into one document the key international human rights laws, standards, and best practices applying to all businesses . The U.N. Human Rights Norms and the explanatory Commentary will help businesses know and comply with the relevant human rights laws, and will provide a clear road map to action that transcends the conflicting provisions of the various private codes of conduct. Although some difficult issues of interpretation will remain, the U.N. Human Rights Norms and the interpretive Commentary now put the U.N. imprimatur on much more detailed guidelines as to proper action. They also endorse methods of independent monitoring and other implementation mechanisms to hold businesses accountable for violations of human rights, humanitarian, labor, environmental, and other international principles and best practices, and will contribute to further international legal development along these lines.

Apparently the guidelines have already drawn opposition from the Paris-based ICC and two influential US groups, the International Business Council and the National Foreign Trade Council, who maintain that any shift toward mandatory compliance would violate accepted international practices The Sub-Commission called on governments and individuals to submit information to its working group on any breach or violation of human rights that might be put down to the activities of big global corporations.

The full approved text can shortly be found at www.unhchr.ch

The Norms on theResponsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other BusinessEnterprises with Regard to Human Rights and the Commentary have been posted on the World Wide Web at
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/omig.html,
specifically at http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/norms-Aug2003.html and
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/commentary-Aug2003.html.

The resolution of the Sub-Commission adopting the Norms and establishing an initial procedure for implementation can be found at
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/res2003-16.html

Previous drafts
of the Norms can be found at
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/normsdrafts.html.