Social Sustainability
State Duty to Protect
The first pillar of the UN Guiding Principles: states must protect people within their jurisdiction from business-related human rights abuse.
Definition
The state duty to protect is the first pillar of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011): states must protect against human rights abuse within their territory or jurisdiction by third parties, including business enterprises, through appropriate policies, legislation, regulation and adjudication. The duty is grounded in existing international human rights law — states are not generally responsible for private actors' abuses, but they breach their obligations when they fail to take appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish and redress them.
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