Luxembourg deputies have debated the issues of multinational companies, fair trade and the respect of human rights in the national parliament.
With human rights violations still present in 2017, several deputies in Luxembourg have spoken about the respect of these rights by multinational companies, as well as the challenges of fair trade. These discussions were in the framework of the debate on the policy of cooperation in the Parliament.
According to Fairtrade Lëtzebuerg, Luxembourg needs a national business and human rights action plan to implement the UN Guiding Principles of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). This national plan must be developed by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs in exchange with different actors.
At the level of the European Union, a European regulation for due diligence on conflict minerals was introduced in April 2017 for which the NGO Fairtrade Lëtzebuerg has invested in the establishment of a legislative framework to respond to massive violations of human rights.
Following the debate in Parliament and in view of the elaboration of the National Plan for the Implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights and Business, the Fairtrade Lëtzebuerg NGO has demanded a regulation of globalisation and enforcement of a duty of care in a binding manner to ensure that human rights are respected throughout the supply chain. .
