Business responsibility for human rights | Debbie Stothard | TEDxRuaMonteAlegre

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Debbie Stothard talks about business responsibility for human rights.

Debbie Stothard is Deputy Secretary-General at FIDH and Coordinator for Altsean-Burma. Ms. Stothard is involved in the regional campaign on Burma and travels extensively throughout the Asian region, both as a campaigner and as a resource person for human rights training sessions. Ms. Stothard's exposure to the media and campaigning dates back to the early 1980s. She has worked on campaigns for education rights, anti-racism, migrant's rights, gender equality, and human rights and democracy in Southeast Asia.

Hi.

I promised Julie that I would do
a dance to lighten the mood

after this very tragic story
of North Korea.

So, here's the human rights dance:

one step forward, two steps back,

sideways, sideways, push, push, push.

(Applause) (Cheers)

Now, for some story,
some news about money:

a recent study found
that only 40 companies

control 80% of the world's
financial movement,

the world's business.

So, every year, there is business
amounting to about $ 20 trillion,

and 40 companies control

$16 trillion of business.

That is almost eight times
the GDP of Brazil,

[one of] the world's largest countries.

Now, what that means,
is that governments are now telling us,

"This is big business.

These businesses
are bigger than countries.

So, we are helpless.

We are not responsible
for what happens to you.

When companies violate your rights,

we can't do anything."

But the reality is that,
when we analyze the situation,

states have not bothered to protect us

from human rights violations.

In many countries where impunity
and human rights are already a problem,

we will see that business
then adds extra pressure

on our human rights.

What is also very scary is the fact
that, in many countries,

it is joint ventures between these
big transnational corporations

and state-owned enterprises
that violate our rights,

that force us off our land,
out of our homes,

that poison the air,
that poison the water,

that poison our entire
food production chain.

It is these joint ventures

that send helicopter gunships
to shoot our teenagers,

that send soldiers to kill us

because we have suddenly become criminals

for standing up
for our fundamental rights.

I'd like to bring someone new
into the room.

I've been thinking about her a lot
in the past few months.

There's a photo I'd like to share of her.

Do any of you know this woman?

One of you do, yes.

Do any of you have any idea
of which part of the world she's from?

No? Okay.

I'd like to introduce you to Juvy Capion.

Juvy is a mother of four,

and pregnant with a baby on the way.

She and her husband, Daguil Capion,
were community leaders

in the B'laan tribe, in Southern Philippines.

She was involved in a struggle,

she and her husband were involved
in a struggle with the community,

to protect their land
from mining for copper and gold.

The mining project was going to displace,

force 2,500 families off their ancestral lands.

So, let me share with you a story of Juvy.

This happened on the 18th
of October last year,

nearly a year ago.

It was 6 am in the morning.

Soldiers came to Juvy's house,

and one of them yelled,
"Finish them off!",

and then the gunshots started.

Juvy screamed and begged
for the safety of her children,

but soldiers entered her house
and kept shooting.

Within moments, family members
rushed in and tried to save the family.

Juvy was shot dead.

Her son, 13-year-old Jordan,
was shot dead.

Her other son,
8-year-old John, was shot dead.

One daughter was shot,
but survived, 5-year-old Becky.

Ten-year-old Riza,
miraculously, was not hurt.

The soldiers took their dead bodies
of Juvy, Jordan and John

back to their barracks

to try and force her husband
to surrender himself.

He's still in hiding.

The authorities, instead of calling
for judicial measures,

a proper court hearing,

have instead put a price on his head,

to be caught dead or alive.

So, when we hear this story,

I'm sure all of you are thinking
about similar cases

in your region and in your country,

cases that may have even happened
recently here in Brazil,

one of the world's
fastest growing economies,

and fifth largest country in the world.

And that is a strong reminder to us,

that states do have a say
over our human rights.

And in situations in countries like Burma,

where I have been working to support
human rights and democracy for 25 years,

since I was in kindergarden,

where everyone is saying,
"Wow! it's fantastic!

Aung San Suu Kyi is in Parliament!

Peace is in the air,
everything is great!",

we're seeing that there are war
and atrocities still going on.

And even in places
where there is a peace agreement,

those who used to fear soldiers with guns

now have to fear men with briefcases

backed up by soldiers with guns.

So, when we talk
about the multipolar world,

when we talk about states

and we are concerned that the BRICS don't
build a brick wall against human rights,

we also have to understand
that companies have a role.

Some companies have lifted the game,

but, last year, as I tried to raise
awareness and concern,

at the UN Forum
on Business and Human Rights,

about safety in the workplace,

about the fact that government workers
in Pakistan and Bangladesh

were dying in the hundreds

because of workplace's lack of safety,

buildings were being
burnt down or collapsing,

everyone nodded and everyone clapped,

and then, a few months later,

another bigger tragedy
happened in Bangladesh.

When we talk about business
responsibility for human rights,

we also have to remember
something: we are business.

You cannot take the human being
out of the economy.

We are shareholders, we are workers.

Our natural resources are used up,
our air is used up.

We are customers,

and we pay taxes that are
used by our governments

to bail out and subsidize business.

So, we need to understand too

that we have a right
to demand an end to impunity.

We have a right to tell
governments and businesses,

"You have to be accountable.

We have a right to expect you to change.

We have a right to demand accountability."

And we are living in a global world,

where the minerals used
in our mobile phones

may have been extracted under conditions

that caused massive
human rights violations.

We have a right, as citizens
of the world and as customers,

to demand that the products
which we pay for

are not linked to atrocities
in human rights.

And in this world where we are
concerned with BRICS,

the rise of big new economies,

we are concerned with the old poles,

so we've got the old
poles and the new poles,

not just front and back,
but sideways, up and down,

and where we try to keep our balance
while doing the human rights dance,

we do have to remember we all have
the right to demand accountability,

and we are all responsible to each other,

because, when you look at the UN
guiding principles on human rights,

there are three things you need to know:

the state duty to protect us
from human rights violations,

the business responsibility
to respect human rights

and, ultimately, our fundamental
right to remedy,

which I assume is a right to justice.

And if people who suffer human rights
abuses because of business

are unable to have access to justice,

people like Juvy and her family,

and a lot of other friends that we know
in our respective regions and countries,

if they are not allowed
to have access to justice,

we should demand
that they have access to justice

in the countries where these
corporations come from,

because these corporations were involved,

these corporations benefited
from human rights violations.

So, I'm not going to finish with a dance,

that would be a violation
of your human rights,

but I just wanted
to tell you and remind you,

because what I'm saying is not new,
it's just a reminder of various facts,

that, in this room,

we are linked to a multitude of networks.

We generate our own gravity,

and we can work to make sure

that Juvy's remaining family,

that the people of North Korea,
or Darfur, or Burma,

or the people in Brazil
facing mass displacement

because of so-called development
projects, close to home,

people all around the world
suffering in this way

know that they're not alone.

In this multipolar world,
they are not alone,

and we can't leave them alone.

Thank you.

(Applause)