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While States bear the primary obligation for the promotion and protection of human rights and the protection of human rights defenders, NAPs should also sensitise businesses to their responsibilities and include concrete measures and a spectrum of actions to ensure that businesses consult defenders and contribute to a safe and enabling environment for defenders’ work. ISHR and ICAR consider that the State obligation to protect against the abuse of human rights by business actors extends both to the actions of companies domiciled in the State and to their operations and subsidiaries abroad, whether wholly or partially owned or controlled. In this respect, any reference to ‘business,’ ‘business enterprise,’ ‘corporation,’ or ‘company’ in this guidance should be understood to include both parent companies and subsidiary entities, as well as investors and contractors. It is also important to see NAPs in the broader context of the UN Human Rights Council’s parallel, complementary, and on-­‐going Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) towards a binding treaty on business and human rights. NAPs offer all States an opportunity to demonstrate how businesses can and should be regulated in regards to human rights defenders and to underline the importance of consulting and protecting defenders at all levels of this debate, including through the IGWG and any treaty it ultimately produces. The practical tools included in this guidance are to be used in conjunction with the ICAR-­Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) NAPs Toolkit to develop, evaluate, and revise NAPs.10 This guidance is the second of a series of thematic templates focusing on particular groups of rights holders or subject areas particularly salient to the issue of business and human rights. As such, it draws on the first guidance in the series, the ‘Children’s Rights in National Action Plans (NAPs) on Business and Human Rights’ thematic supplement, published by ICAR, DIHR, and UNICEF in 2015.11 This guidance also draws on ISHR’s extensive global experience of consulting, supporting, and advocating with human rights defenders working on business and human rights, as well as ICAR’s expertise in all phases of NAPs development. Its content was revised on the basis of consultations with human rights defenders, NGOs, and networks working on the issue of business and human rights in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe. Finally, this Guidance should be taken as a set of minimum elements for States to consider when developing a NAP. States should always consult local defenders before defining the development process to ensure that the NAP will be as effective as possible. 3