The precarious human rights situation in Belarus requires businesses, equally foreign and national, to exercise particular diligence when operating in the country. As laid out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles), business enterprises have a responsibility to respect human rights wherever they operate in the world. The UN Guiding Principles require that business enterprises take pro-active steps to ensure that they do not cause or contribute to human rights abuses within their global operations and respond to any human rights abuses when they do occur.