Polish National Action Plan for the Implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights 2017-2020.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assumed the role of coordinator of the process of developing the Polish National Action Plan (NAP) with respect to the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The development and regular updating of the NAP requires the cooperation of many entities: governmental institutions, industry and non-governmental organizations. The issue of ensuring the observance of human rights in business is the shared responsibility of the state, including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as business circles and civil society. The government plays a key role in this process, as it is responsible for the majority of planned activities under the NAP. The development of the NAP and its updating involves the participation of the ministries of Foreign Affairs; Economic Development; Finance; Family, Labour and Social Policy; Justice, as well as the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment, the Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society, the National Labour Inspectorate, and the Commissioner for Human Rights. The work on the National Action Plan required a comprehensive analysis of the current legal status in relation to the subject of the UN Guiding Principles, so as to identify whether and where Polish law and practice require specific changes and adjustments. Such an analysis was carried out by the relevant ministries and was included in this first edition of the NAP. Consultations with a wide range of stakeholders, primarily with employers’ organizations, trade unions, and NGOs, facilitated an evaluation of the issues from different perspectives and the collection of specific recommendations for the NAP. The National Action Plan for the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights was created on the basis of the three pillars included in the Guiding Principles: 8 I. The state’s duty to protect human rights; II. The corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and III. Access to remedies.
Through the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles, the NAP primarily aims to enhance the protection of human rights of individuals and to enable them to seek justice when their rights are violated by business. By describing the government’s actions to promote corporate social responsibility, as well as referring to strategic documents in this area, the NAP demonstrates a deliberate state policy of supporting businesses while stressing the need for human rights. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights put significant emphasis on the state’s positive responsibilities and highlight, among other things, the following issues: – the state’s duty to protect human rights is a standard of conduct; – states are not responsible for human rights abuses by private actors, but states may breach international human rights where they fail to take appropriate steps to prevent abuses by private actors; – states should consider the full range of permissible and preventative and remedial measures, including policies, legislation, regulations, and adjudication; – states also have a duty to protect and promote the rule of law, including by taking measures to ensure equality before the law, fairness in its application, and procedural and legal transparency. The state’s duty to protect human rights is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and in ratified international agreements that obligate States Parties to respect, protect, and implement the human rights of individuals within their territory and/or jurisdiction. This includes the duty to protect against human rights abuse by third parties, including business enterprises. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland contains a number of principles relevant to the protection of human rights in the context of business activity. Poland’s economic system is based on, among other things, solidarity, dialogue, and cooperation among social partners (Article 20), and limitations on the freedom of economic activity may be imposed only in exceptional cases (Article 22). The Constitution introduces the principle of equality before the law and the total prohibition of discrimination for any reason, including in economic life (Article 32). Chapter II of the Constitution contains a broad catalogue of economic, social, and cultural rights and freedoms (Articles 64-76). At the statutory level, the provisions of labour law guarantee the observance of labour standards and rights arising from Poland’s international obligations, in particular from the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the European Social Charter, as well as those contained in the ILO’s fundamental conventions in line with the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.