WEJ Submission to HRC Inquiry on Business and Human Rights

July 2016

The GADN Working Group on Women's Economic Justice has made a submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights' Inquiry into human rights and business.

The Group makes the following recommendations to the UK Government:

  • Integrate a gender/women’s rights perspective into the UK’s National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights.

  • Make it a mandatory requirement for UK companies operating overseas to undertake gender-sensitive human rights due diligence of their supply chains.

  • This includes companies in receipt of UK Aid, in order to comply with the 2014 Gender Equality Act. DfID should agree on gender-specific targets as a precondition for funding and monitor these closely. A clear oversight mechanism should also be put in place by DfID when working with private firms that considers who bears which of the economic, social and environmental costs, risks and benefits of projects.

  • Companies should be encouraged to engage in sector-wide approaches to help secure women’s access to a living wage, protect collective bargaining rights, and to revise current purchasing models that drive down wages and conditions along with the informalisation of the sector.

  • The UK Government should provide coherent, clear regulatory frameworks and guidelines to businesses on their responsibility to respect women’s rights, including benchmarks and indicators regarding the steps they need to take to ensure this.