Central and Eastern Europe has often been forgotten from business and human rights discourse. Unjustifiably so. Whereas some European countries have been the front-runners in developments in business and human rights standards, several challenges, including systematic business-related human rights abuses, have been prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This blog post briefly maps business and human rights in CEE and explores how well human rights have been protected in the business operations in the region. Do rights-holders have viable options for access to justice either at domestic and/or regional levels in the case of corporate-related human rights violations?

Backdrop

Central and Eastern Europe is in itself a very diverse region. Several States are part of the European Union and most States, with the exception of Belarus and Kosovo, are members of the Council of Europe. Until the beginning of the 1990s, all CEE countries were behind the Iron Curtain and part of regimes that have systematically violated human rights. CEE can be divided into at least three large sub-regional groups: countries belonging to Central Europe; countries belonging to South-Eastern Europe and those belonging to Eastern Europe, that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. CEE is one of the five regional groups within the United Nations and its origins trace back to Cold-War divisions. Many of CEE countries are characterized by the high levels of inequality and low human development indices. Their economies have been centrally planned and controlled for many decades. As a result, many of CEE countries have in the last few decades experienced high levels of foreign investments, liberalization and privatization. Nonetheless, introduction of the free market has often let to creation of “nouveau riche” elites, nepotism and “tycoonization”. In some countries such as the Russian Federation, state-owned enterprises still remain important players. Common features of CEE environments therefore include State involvement in some jurisdictions; collision of public, state and business interests; weak rule of law and weak institutions; and prosecution of human rights defenders. Only four out of 23 countries in the region have so far adopted National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights (Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia), although Georgia has adopted a general National Action Plan on human rights, which includes a chapter on business and human rights. Moreover, Ukraine has recently committed to developing National Action Plan.  The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights has so far conducted two visits to countries in the region, namely Azerbaijan in 2014 and Georgia in 2019.  The region includes some of the largest global corporations such Gazprom, Rusnet, LukOil, Surgutneftegas, Sberbank and Transneft. In recent years, several individuals have been active both locally and regionally in business and human rights in Central and Eastern Europe attempting to improve regional standards and their implementation.

Weak institutions and access to remedy

Human rights bodies and institutions in CEE have so far been only indirectly addressing business and human rights issues. They often not able to effectively protect individuals against business-related human rights abuses due to the lack of knowledge about business and human rights standards. As with many other State institutions in CEE, they have often been subjected to old practices, pressures and mentality of old-boys’ networks, which aim to protect their vested interest and status quo. In this way, national human rights institutions in CEE face the following on-going challenges: weak nature and limited scope of their legal mandates, lack or limited de iure and de facto independence and impartiality of its functioning, limited recognition of corporate responsibilities, weak State institutions and the rule of law, weak civil society, and limited access to justice.

Victims of human rights violations in CEE have often encountered difficulties in effectively accessing justice not only in business related human rights abuses, but also generally. Domestic judicial systems are often not able or willing to provide them with access to fair, independent and impartial judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings. Ordinary rights holders have since democratization in early 1990s generally and with few exceptions, lost trust in the State institutions, particularly the judiciary. Most of the countries in the region are state parties to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, with the exception of Belarus and Kosovo. Individuals are therefore able to submit individual applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which has taken over the role of the domestic courts as individuals show more trust in the fairness of the ECtHR than those of domestic judiciaries. Some CEE countries are member states of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and are therefore obliged to comply with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. However, cases before respective National Contact Points in Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia have been few and far between. Most of those National Contact Points have been notoriously underfunded and underequipped, not to mention subjected to parochial interests of government and corporate elite. Alternative remedies for business-related human rights abuses have been few and far between.

Way forward

The field of business and human rights in CEE has been underdeveloped. Most efforts have been concentrated in the area of corporate social responsibility. In the economic environment of CEE, it has not been generally accepted that companies must respect human rights, implement anti-corruption measures and act on the basis of integrity.  Most of the States in the region have not shown commitment to UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), notably, only five have adopted National Action Plans. Such an approach is perhaps even more problematic as many States in the region have large capital investments in the economy and they have so far failed to lead by example. As a result, several privately-owned corporations have not accepted that they have complementary negative and positive obligations to respect and practice human rights at home and abroad. In the practice of corporate governance in CEE, it is in some jurisdictions necessary for corporations to develop codes of conduct and integrity plans. Nonetheless, corporations in CEE should start translating their rhetorical commitments into practice and investing more in human resources that will be able to supervise the compliance of business operations with domestic and global standards. Access to justice for corporate-related human rights abuses in the region mostly depends on the fairness and independence of State institutions. States are not to turn blind eye to old boys’ networks and actual and perceived corruption. As a rule, the implementation of the business and human rights standards in the region hinges on the improvement of the rule of law in State institutions and in the private sector.

Business and human rights practice in CEE therefore faces several difficulties, but not insurmountable challenges to effectively respect and protect human dignity of rights-holders across various business sectors. The regional and global business and human rights community should therefore emphasize and insist on the necessity of strong State institutions, the rule of law and access to justice in order for CEE States to meet their obligations under the UNGPs. Both States and corporations in CEE should in this way build and strengthen independence, impartiality and capacity to deal with business-related human rights abuses.

Jernej Letnar Černič is Associate Professor of Human Rights and Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Government and European Studies of the New University (Ljubljana/Kranj, Slovenia). The author acknowledges that this post has been written within the auspices of the research project on ‘Holistic Approach to Business and Human Rights: A Normative Reform of Slovenian and International Legal Order’, funded by the Slovenian Research Agency.

Jernej Letnar Černič, together with Beata Faracik and Olena Uvarova have in 2019 established a regional association on Business and Human Rights in CEE as a part of global Business and Human Rights chapter. They have been working together with the Editorial Board of the BHRJ towards a Special Issue of the Journal on the region, planned for 2022.