Faurie and Garavano present at meeting on “Business and Human Rights”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Faurie this morning opened a meeting on Business and Human Rights at the Palacio San Martín, which was attended by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Germán Garavano, and by business executives, presidents of chambers of industry, civil society organizations and national government officials.

The meeting, which was also attended by the Secretary of Human Rights and Cultural Pluralism, Claudio Avruj, and the resident coordinator of the United Nations System in Argentina and resident representative of UNDP, René Mauricio Valdés, focused on the implementation of the National Plan on Human Rights 2017-2020, with special regard to the subject of business and Human Rights.

In his address, Faurie underscored the active role that the Argentine Republic has traditionally assumed in international and regional fora as regards corporate social responsibility and its relation to human rights. “We, the Argentine people, have adopted Human Rights as a State policy and this clearly contributes to defining our identity, in addition to occupying a particularly prominent place on our foreign policy front,” Faurie stated and stressed that “Argentina is proud of its achievements as regards its commitment to human rights, showcased at international fora and acknowledged by other countries.”

In this regard, he noted our country’s accession to the main international instruments on this subject, especially: the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; the Global Compact introduced in 1999 by the UN Secretary General and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights related to extractive industries.

The support for these initiatives complements and strengthens our strong commitment on this subject, in addition to evidencing that respect for Human Rights is an essential element which contributes to the goal of promoting investments and enhancing the contribution of companies to sustainable development.

Press Release No. 285/18