A/HRC/21/39 95. In providing or receiving international assistance, States should ensure the effective participation of recipient States and all affected stakeholders, including persons living in poverty, and strengthen their capacity and ownership in the context of international assistance. 96. States must take deliberate, specific and targeted steps, individually and jointly, to create an international enabling environment conducive to poverty reduction, including in matters relating to bilateral and multilateral trade, investment, taxation, finance, environmental protection and development cooperation. This includes cooperating to mobilize the maximum of available resources for the universal fulfilment of human rights. 97. Even when a member of an international organization, a State remains responsible for its own conduct in relation to its human rights obligations within and outside its territory. This includes identifying the possible human rights impact, including on persons living in poverty, of measures agreed at the international level. 98. A State that transfers competences to or participates in an international organization must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the relevant organization acts in accordance with the international human rights obligations of that State and in a manner conducive to poverty reduction. VII. Role of non-State actors, including business enterprises 99. States have a duty, in accordance with their international obligations, to prevent and protect against human rights abuse committed by non-State actors, including business enterprises, which they are in a position to regulate. Where transnational corporations are involved, all relevant States should cooperate to ensure that businesses respect human rights abroad, including the human rights of persons and communities living in poverty. States should take additional steps to protect against abuses of human rights by business enterprises that are owned or controlled by the State, or that receive substantial support and service from State agencies. 100. Non-State actors, including business enterprises, have, at the very minimum, the responsibility to respect human rights, which means to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their activities, products or services, and to deal with such impacts when they occur. 101. Businesses should adopt a clear policy commitment to respect human rights, including those of persons living in poverty, and to undertake a human rights due diligence process to identify and assess any actual or potential impacts on human rights posed by the company’s own activities and by business partners associated with those activities. They should prevent and mitigate the adverse effects of their actions on the rights of persons living in poverty, including by establishing or participating in operational-level grievance mechanisms for individuals or communities that face such impacts. 102. The obligation of States to protect against human rights infringements by third parties requires taking steps to prevent, investigate, punish and redress any abuse through effective policies, legislation, regulations and adjudication. States must ensure that those affected by business-related abuses have access to a prompt, accessible and effective remedy, including where necessary recourse to judicial redress and non-judicial accountability and grievance mechanisms. This would include addressing any legal, practical and procedural barriers to access to justice, including discrimination, which prevent persons living in poverty from using and benefiting from these mechanisms owing to cultural, social, physical or financial impediments. 23