Canada needs to ensure support for human rights protection in Asia while taking advantage of the economic opportunities there, according to a September 25 Asia Pacific Foundation (APF) of Canada report.
Advancing Canada’s Engagement with Asia on Human Rights – Balancing Business and Human Rights outlines a series of recommendations as to how government, business and society as a whole can effectively protect human rights in Asia while pursuing business there.
“Human rights abuses in Asia are a major concern for Canadians, but they are divided about the best way to respond,” said Dr. Pitman Potter, APF senior fellow and chair of the Task Force on Human Rights in Asia. “As Canada engages more deeply with the region, we need to work more effectively to support protection of human rights in Asia.
“This will require careful integration of our trade and human rights policies.”
The recommendations include:
- openly incorporating human rights protection within Canada’s trade agenda for Asia, acknowledging that human rights are “universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated”;
- adopting regulations that require Canadian mining and energy investors to report all payments to foreign governments;
- adopting regulations requiring Canadian investors to ensure that companies in their value chains are compliant with the rights of indigenous peoples; and
- supporting local NGOs and civil society groups in Asia to further implementation of internationally recognized human rights.
The report also discusses the misconceptions held about the Canada-Asia relationship, calling them “ill-defined, narrowly-conceived and fractious.”
“Human rights discussions in Canada are often sparked by international or bilateral incidents rather than by a principled and systematic review of the issues,” the report states.
“Political attention to human rights issues is sporadic and often driven by ideology, populism and the heat of the moment.
“As a result, Canadian responses to human rights problems internationally can vary wildly – from neglect to overreaction.”
Read the full report here.
