By Safaa Abdoun
CAIRO: Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie, discussed the UN’s framework for business and human rights’ three main pillars: “Protect, Respect and Remedy,” at a roundtable discussion held in Cairo last week.
The discussion, titled “Role of Governments in Promoting Corporate Responsibility and Private Sector Engagement in Sustainable Development Process,” brought together ministers, leading businessmen, philanthropists and civil society activists to discuss the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
This UN framework, Ruggie explained, rests on three pillars: the state duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including businesses, through appropriate policies, regulation, and adjudication, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and finally, greater access by victims to effective remedy, judicial and non-judicial.
“CSR has moved beyond philanthropy to include opportunities and accountability; human rights by putting people at the center; companies have realized that it is good business and it brings progressive development if states play the role they should play,” he said.
The Ministries of Family and Population, Foreign Affairs, Higher Education and Investment organized the event in cooperation with the Arab German Chamber of Commerce and the Egyptian Junior Business Association on the occasion of Ruggie’s first visit to Egypt and the Middle East in general.
A number of ministers have participated in the roundtable discussion giving an insight on how the government can provide the necessary support to the private sector to amplify the impact of its contribution to sustainable development projects through applying CSR principles.
“[The private sector has to know that] investment in humans is beneficial to the business,” said Minister of State for Family and Population, Moshira Khattab, adding that they could provide the help in the context of a long term educational program where the return on investment is much higher.
Khattab pointed out that awareness has to be raised and explained that “this is not charity, it’s an investment, it’s a business.”
Other areas where corporate social responsibility efforts could be directed and is needed, she noted, is in early childhood development, childhood nutrition and combating discrimination against certain groups.
Furthermore, Khattab said that the ministry is engaged in a very successful partnership with a number of companies, where they built schools together in impoverished areas and helped victims of ill practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriages.
On the other hand, Minister of Manpower and Migration Aisha Abdel Hady stressed on the fact that CSR is a duty which the majority of businesses in Egypt know of, adding that many businesses are very low-key when it comes to practicing it.
She supported Ruggie’s example of Henry Ford’s CSR when he raised the wages of his workers so that he would be paying them enough so they could afford the products they were making.
The Minister of Higher Education, Hany Helal, said that he continuously tells businessmen that “the rich person has to take care of the poor person in order to protect his business,” explaining that when he provides social projects such as a school or hospital in the location of his business the people will be keen on keeping his business successful so they would benefit from theses services in return.
Helal also encouraged businessmen to approach him and other government officials with projects and vowed to provide an environment that welcomes CSR. “Just leave the bureaucracy to me and you take care of the project,” he said.
Furthermore, he urged companies as part of their CSR programs to provide internships and training programs for students to benefit from practical learning besides the theoretical learning they receive in the classrooms.
“We want CSR to move from charity to investment in order to become more sustainable,” he said.
