A/63/263 A shared responsibility 44. States have primary responsibility for ensuring both the right to the highest attainable standard of health and enhancing access to medicines. However, it is a shared responsibility. If access to medicines is to be enhanced, numerous national and international actors have an indispensable role to play. The Millennium Development Goals recognize that pharmaceutical companies are among those sharing this responsibility. Goal 8, a global partnership for development, has a number of targets, not least: “In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries”. Enhancing shareholder value 45. Pharmaceutical companies operate in complex market and social settings that give rise to a range of responsibilities to various stakeholders. Of course, companies have a responsibility to enhance shareholder value. This responsibility has to be seen in the context of other social, developmental and human rights responsibilities, especially the pharmaceutical sector’s central societal mission to develop high-quality medicines that are accessible to those in need. Moreover, all pharmaceutical companies would find it beneficial to adopt a rights-sensitive approach to their businesses, as outlined in the excellent joint publication of the United Nations Global Compact, Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, and OHCHR. 6 Practical, constructive guidance 46. The Guidelines do not use the peremptory word “must”, but the more modest language “should”. In other words, they deliberately avoid some of the most controversial doctrinal questions (such as, “are businesses legally bound by international human rights law?”) that have dominated debates about business and human rights for many years. These discussions are important, and the Special Rapporteur has contributed to them elsewhere, 7 but the central objective of the Guidelines is to provide practical, constructive and specific guidance to pharmaceutical companies and other interested parties, including those who wish to monitor companies and hold them to account. The Guidelines are consistent with and complementary to the helpful analysis recently provided by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (A/HRC/8/5). Key human rights standards upon which the Guidelines are based 47. The Guidelines are based on human rights principles that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including non-discrimination, equality, transparency, monitoring and accountability. The Guidelines are also informed by some features of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. As the Constitution of the World Health Organization affirms, “enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human __________________ 6 7 08-45647 See A Guide for Integrating Human Rights into Business Management available at www.blihr.org/. In his report at the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur expressed his opinion that it is “inconceivable that some human rights do not place legal obligations on business enterprises” (see A/61/338, para. 93). 11