Geneva Office Report Panel discussion: Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights Side event to the 60 th session of the UN-Commission on Human Rights March 25 th 2004, Geneva On March 25 th , in cooporation with the Forum Menschenrechte, the Geneva Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation held a Panel discussion on“Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights” (hereafter the norms). The event took place within the scope of the 60 th session of the UN­Commission on Human Rights. The panel was formed by: - David Weissbrodt, Professor University of Minnesota - Dwight Justice, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions(ICFTU) - Lee Swepston, International Labour Organisation(ILO) - Tricia Feeney, amnesty international(ai) - Chris Sidoti, International Service for Human Rights(ISHR) - Joseph Rajkumar, Pax Romana The discussion was introduced and moderated by Erfried Adam(Director Friedrich Ebert Foundation Geneva). After an introductory note by Erfried Adam, pointing out the character of the norms and the state of play of the discussion, every panellist was allocated some time to give a first statement. David Weissbrodt firstly stated that he was very glad the norms had been adopted unanimously by the subcommission(composed of 26 Expert from 26 countries). He further explained both the character of the norms themselves and the process of their consultation and final adoption in August 2003. He stressed the open character of the process, which included several public hearings with several stakeholders from all relevant sectors. He then drew the attention to§1 of the norms, which implied the question what responsibilities transnational enterprises had with regards to human rights. He stated that their responsibilities had increased; however, the main responsibility to protect Human Rights was still in the hands of governments. Nevertheless there was good reason for having a comprehensive set of guidelines for business enterprises. Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Geneva Office 1