Читать книгу Empresas en el Conflicto Armado : Aportes a la Construcción de la paz en Colombia - Mary Martin Beth - Страница 38

These cases show that the private sector has explored quite diverse forms of participation in peace-building and reconstruction activities in different conflict-affected settings. It also reveals the companies vast potential to build peace from a privileged vantage point, yet one with a great deal of responsibility.

Although states, international donors and NGOs have appealed to CSR specific mechanisms to improve company behaviour in conflict-affected settings, there are not internationally agreed guidelines aimed at orienting the business sector activity in the peace-building realm. With regard to armed conflicts, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has indicated that even though many companies have adopted human rights policies, very few have in fact included policies on International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which is the law that regulates situations of armed conflict or war. Therefore, very few companies bear in mind that in these settings they must not only respect human rights in their area of influence but that IHL is also the law that prevails, entailing a series of rights and responsibilities for companies.