UN EXPERT TO ASSESS BUSINESS ACTIVITIES IMPACT ON HUMAN RIGHTS HERE

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia /MONTSAME/ A United Nations expert on business and human rights will undertake the first country mission to Mongolia from 8 to 18 October 2012, to assess the impacts of business activities on human rights in the country. “Mongolia has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and is expected to continue growing at this very fast pace in the coming decade,” noted Margaret Jungk, the member of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises who will visit the country. “The tremendous amount of business activity lying behind this dramatic economic growth may have equally dramatic impacts on the human rights of the population living there. These impacts can be both positive and negative”, she noted. The UN Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed new Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011, which established for the first time, an authoritative global standard to address negative impacts on human rights of business activities. This is the first time that a mission by a UN independent expert will be conducted around the Guiding Principles, and this is the first information-gathering mission of the Working Group since it was created last year by the UN Human Rights Council. “If the Guiding Principles are applied at this early stage, it could strongly benefit Mongolia and lay the groundwork for greater prevention of negative impacts, and improved access to remedy when they do occur,” added Ms Jungk. “We wish to learn first-hand from initiatives in Mongolia to address impacts of business activities on human rights, and we will be able to see in very concrete terms the clarity and the guidance that the Guiding Principles can provide at the national level”, she said. Ms Jungk, who visits the country at the invitation of the Government, will travel to Ulaanbaatar and Omnogovi aimag, to visit mining sites and to meet with senior Government officials, MPs, National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia, and relevant stakeholders including business, trade unions, employers' associations, academia and civil society representatives. She will also participate in the "Mining and Human Rights in Mongolia" conference to be convened by the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia on 10 and 11 October 2012. She will hold a press conference to present preliminary observations from her visit on 17 October in UN Conference Room at Orient Plaza in the UB city. Findings from the country visit will be discussed at the Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva on 4-5 December of 2012 and a report, officially presented to the Human Rights Council--in June of 2013.