E/C.12/GC/24 the commencement of activities.45 Such consultations should allow for identification of the potentially negative impact of the activities and of the measures to mitigate and compensate for such impact. They should also lead to design mechanisms for sharing the benefits derived from the activities, since companies are bound by their duty to respect indigenous rights to establish mechanisms that ensure that indigenous peoples share in the benefits generated by the activities developed on their traditional territories. 46 18. States would violate their duty to protect Covenant rights, for instance, by failing to prevent or to counter conduct by businesses that leads to such rights being abused, or that has the foreseeable effect of leading to such rights being abused, for instance through lowering the criteria for approving new medicines, 47 by failing to incorporate a requirement linked to reasonable accommodation of persons with disabilities in public contracts, by granting exploration and exploitation permits for natural resources without giving due consideration to the potential adverse impacts of such activities on the individual and on communities’ enjoyment of Covenant rights, by exempting certain projects or certain geographical areas from the application of laws that protect Covenant rights, or by failing to regulate the real estate market and the financial actors operating on that market so as to ensure access to affordable and adequate housing for all. 48 Such violations are facilitated where insufficient safeguards exist to address corruption of public officials or private-toprivate corruption, or where, as a result of corruption of judges, human rights abuses are left unremedied. 19. The obligation to protect sometimes necessitates direct regulation and intervention. States parties should consider measures such as restricting marketing and advertising of certain goods and services in order to protect public health, 49 such as of tobacco products, in line with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,50 and of breast-milk substitutes, in accordance with the 1981 International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent resolutions of the World Health Assembly; 51 combating gender role stereotyping and discrimination;52 exercising rent control in the private housing market as required for the protection of everyone’s right to adequate housing; 53 establishing a minimum wage consistent with a living wage and a fair remuneration; 54 regulating other business activities concerning the Covenant rights to education, employment and reproductive health, in order to combat gender discrimination effectively; 55 and gradually eliminating informal or “non-standard” (i.e. precarious) forms of employment, which often result in denying the workers concerned the protection of labour laws and social security. 20. Corruption constitutes one of the major obstacles to the effective promotion and protection of human rights, particularly as regards the activities of businesses. 56 It also undermines a State’s ability to mobilize resources for the delivery of services essential for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. It leads to discriminatory access to public services in favour of those able to influence authorities, including by offering bribes 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 6 A Business Reference Guide: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, p. 16; and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, art. 19. See A/66/288, para. 102. See A/63/263 and A/HRC/11/12. See A/HRC/34/51, paras. 62-66. See the Convention on the Rights of the Child; Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, paras. 14, 19, 20, 56 and 57; World Health Organization, Set of Recommendations on the Marketing of Foods and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children (2010); and World Health Organization, A Framework for Implementing the Set of Recommendations on the Marketing of Foods and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children (2012). Of the World Health Organization. See A/HRC/19/59, para. 16. See the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 5. See the Committee’s general comment No. 4, para. 8 (c). See the Committee’s general comment No. 23, paras. 10-16 and 19-24. See the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention, para. 13. See Human Rights Council resolution 23/9 and General Assembly resolution A/RES/69/199.