UN experts urge businesses to prioritize human rights News
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UN experts urge businesses to prioritize human rights

Companies worldwide must be accountable to their governments for ignoring human rights responsibilities, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights said in a report Tuesday.

The experts urged businesses to comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in order to prevent negative impacts on human rights through due diligence.

In a press release, working group chair Dante Pesce stated that proper due diligence, “involves identifying risks to people across the value chain, being transparent about that risks and taking action to prevent or remedy them.”

Consideration of human rights due diligence in business practices is set to be the focus of this year’s UN Forum on Business and Human Rights.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Alberto Fujimori born

On July 28, 1938, Alberto Fujimori was born in Lima, Peru. Fujimori became President of Peru exactly 62 years later on July 28, 1990 and served until November 22, 2000, when he fled to Japan under a cloud of allegations involving corruption and human-rights violations. Fujimori was widely credited with restoring Peru's economy and national security during his time in office but was convicted in 2007 of ordering an illegal search and seizure and sentenced to 6 years in prison. In 2009, he was also convicted in a separate trial of human rights violations stemming from his war against domestic terrorists during his time in office. Learn more about Alberto Fujimori and his trial from the archives of the New York Times.

Fourteenth Amendment ratified

On July 28, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, granting citizenship to former slaves and protecting due process of law and equal protection of laws in the States, was ratified. Learn more about the history of the Fourteenth Amendment.