‘Human rights must not be ignored when doing business overseas’

Karachi

Human rights in the corporate sector is a highly debatable issue in Germany, especially in light of the Rana Plaza tragedy in Bangladesh and the one in Baldia Town Karachi four years ago. The debate in Germany is that the buyers and producers must debate the issue in right earnest. The new coalition in Germany has wanted to tackle the issue and make choices but it would take time.

This was stated by Barbel Kofler, member of the German Bundestag, while addressing members of the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA), the media and the intellectual elite of the city on Thursday evening.

She said the ministries of foreign affairs, domestic affair and justice would have to work in tandem. This, she said, was a long-term debate. What, she said, had to be seen to was: the obligation of businesses to respect human rights; the obligation of the state to respect human rights; seeking access to remedies; and the obligation to protect citizens’ human rights.

She mentioned her government’s National Action Plan (NAP) to provide information to companies. Human rights, she said, was not just a Western concept; it was universal.

In reply to a question from Dr Masuma Hassan, chairperson of the institute, as to whether the foreign labour that had brought so much prosperity to Germany would be sent back home, Kofler replied that she did not foresee that eventuality even though there were complications, the main one being that of total assimilation on account of cultural differences.

In reply to another question about deradicalisation from a certain questioner, she said the best way out of radicalisation was education. “We should have vocational centres for children where they learn to mix freely with each other and that way they will not give undue importance to the religious or cultural origins. They’ll be better absorbed.”

She said negotiations between the garments factory that was gutted in Baldia Town four years ago and their principles in Germany were going on. It was, she said, still to be seen how they got access to remedy. “It remains to be seen whether the remedy will be in the court or out of court.”

She said: “The human rights aspect has to be carefully seen to and figures very prominently when your company is doing business overseas.”