BUSINESS & HUMAN RIGHTS

What is the problem? 

As ASEAN continues to deepen its regional economic integration, more challenges are arising for the protection of human rights from corporate power: from lowering labour and environmental standards for business activities; to land confiscations; forced evictions; and attacks on human rights defenders by corporate interests.

Within Southeast Asia, few countries have taken measures to ensure that the activities of companies headquartered in their own country, but operating abroad, do not result in human rights violations.

Recent developments, however, show that fresh attention is being paid to this issue by civil society and governments alike. For instance, the integration of investment abroad was one of the key concerns in Thailand’s National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, the first of its kind in Asia.