10th UN Forum on business and human rights

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

About this session
In this session, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights will present its UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the Next Decade of Business and Human Rights, with recommendations on how to scale up implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

The session will feature:

• A presentation of action areas and priority goals set out in the Working Group’s UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the next decade of UNGPs implementation.
• A discussion between the Working Group and representatives from OHCHR, OECD, ILO, UNDP and UN Global Compact on follow-up to the recommendations for the road ahead.

Background
As the UNGPs turned 10 in June 2021, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, as part of its mandate to promote the UNGPs, took stock of the first decade of implementation. The stocktaking highlighted that the UNGPs have led to significant progress by providing a common framework for all stakeholders in managing business-related human rights risks and impacts, but that considerable implementation and coherence challenges remain. As follow-on from the stocktaking, the Working Group developed its UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the Next Decade with forward-looking recommendations for the next ten years. Building on the stocktaking’s analysis of achievements to date and existing challenges and opportunities, it sets out key action areas for the road ahead for progressively getting closer to fuller UNGPs realization. Each action area identifies priority goals and supporting actions to be taken by States and businesses as well as others that play a role in realizing UNGPs implementation.

The stocktaking and the Roadmap are results of the Working Group’s UNGPs 10+ project, which has been supported by a wider-ranging multi-stakeholder consultation process, numerous written inputs and collaboration with partners, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UNDP.

Read the Roadmap: ohchr.org/ungps10plusroadmap

UNGPs 10th anniversary page: https://www.ohchr.org/ungps10
#UNForumBHR / #bizhumanrights / #UNGPs10plus / #nextdecadeBHR / @ungps10plus

 A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

Interpretation will be available in English, French and Spanish

Brief description of the session:
In June 2019, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights issued Gender Guidance for the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (A/HRC/41/43) to assist States, businesses and other actors in integrating a gender perspective in implementing the UNGPs. The Gender Guidance complements the Standards of Conduct for Business: Tackling Discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, & Intersex People issued by the OHCHR in September 2017. On 25 June 2021, the ILO’s Violence and Harassment Convention 2019 came into force. Despite these standards, men and women (including boys and girls) as well as non-binary people continue to face multiple forms of intersectional discrimination, exclusion and violence in all spheres of life.

This session aims to bring together representatives of various stakeholders to discuss strategies on mainstreaming an intersectional gender perspective across all issues in the business and human rights field, such as access to remedy, care work, climate change, conflicts, corporate leaderships, corruption, COVID-19, disability, discrimination, free prior and informed consent, gender-based violence, gender pay gap, human rights defenders, human rights due diligence, human trafficking, inequality, LGBTI+ rights, modern slavery, national action plans, new technologies, public procurement, racism, sexual harassment, supply chains, sustainable development, tax evasion, and trade and investment agreements. This discussion will also contribute to integrating a gender perspective as a cross-cutting issue in operationalising the Working Group’s “roadmap” for implementation in the next decade as part of the UNGPs 10+ project and in turn achieving substantial gender equality.

Key objectives of the session:
The session aims to:

• Highlight the importance of gender mainstreaming in the business and human rights field;
• Explore strategies and tools needed to integrate an intersectional gender perspective in all policies, programmes and decisions of international organisations, governments, business enterprises, civil society organisations and other actors.
• Discuss gender-responsive measures as part of “building back better” to overcome disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on girls, women and LGBTI+ people.   

Key discussion questions:

• How to integrate an intersectional gender approach in all business and human rights issues?
• What is the role of various actors such as States, national human rights institutions, businesses, industry associations, trade unions, civil society organisations, human rights defenders, academia, lawyers, and women organisations in gender mainstreaming? 
• How to avoid risks of adopting a siloed or tick-box approach to gender in the business and human rights field?
• How to ensure an active participation of women, girls and LGBTI+ people in decision making processes and strategies aimed at building back better and contributing to achieving substantive gender equality?  

Background documents and relevant links:

• Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
  

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

Session organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Interpretation will be available in English, French and Spanish

Brief description of the session:
The session will highlight concrete rights-based actions that States, businesses, investors and other actors should take to prevent, mitigate and remediate the climate crisis. Various panellists will unpack the urgent steps that various actors should take in line with key international instruments such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) as elaborated by the forthcoming Information Note developed by the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Ten years after the adoption of the Guiding Principles, the session will frame this discussion around how actors from different constituencies should act together to achieve rights-based just transition that give priority to people and the planet over profit.

Key objectives of the session:
The session aims to:

• Discuss guidance on the how to implement UN Guiding Principles in the context of the climate crisis;
• Underline the importance of meaningful and effective participation of people, including communities in vulnerable and marginalised situations, in developing policies, solutions and actions aimed at achieving just transition;
• Highlight the linkages between States’ duty to protect human rights and rights-based climate action;
• Unpack what the business responsibility to respect human rights entails in the context of the climate crisis; and
• Articulate access to remedy for individuals and communities affected by climate change.  

Key questions:

• How can the UNGPs inspire inclusive, rights-based climate action? What good practices could States, businesses and other actors such as civil society, national human rights institutions, academia and international organizations draw on?
• What does the duty of States to protect human rights mean in the context of averting climate crisis?
• How should business enterprises integrate climate considerations as part of their human rights responsibility to respect human rights throughout their operations, including as part of due diligence?
• How can access to information, transparency and policy coherence be ensured, and what measures are needed to address corporate lobbying against measures aimed at mitigating climate change?
• How can access to effective remedy for individuals and communities affected by climate change as well as the protection of environmental human rights defenders be ensured in recovery measures and beyond? What are existing challenges and opportunities?

Background to the discussion:
In a dedicated statement for UNFCCC COP26, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for “business models that are respectful of the environment and protect human rights” and noted that “Governments and other authorities, businesses and individuals have a shared responsibility to prevent, mitigate and remedy the negative human rights impacts of climate change.”

Preventing environmental harm is critical to ensure the full and effective implementation of fundamental human rights such as those to health, a healthy environment, and water and sanitation. All States have an obligation to pursue development that benefits both people and the planet and equitably distribute the benefits of economic growth. Businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights, including to integrate climate considerations into human rights due diligence processes.

Courts, non-judicial mechanisms such as National Contact Points as well as human rights mechanisms are increasingly being called on to interpret and apply the obligations of states and businesses in the context of climate change. In 2021, the EU Parliament approved a proposed outline for an EU Directive on Mandatory Human Rights, Environmental and Good Governance Due Diligence. In addition, the OECD has recently undertaken a stocktaking exercise seeking comments on its Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights is developing guidance on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the context of climate change.

Additional background documents:

• OHCHR, Key Messages on human rights, climate change and business
• The Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights (including its dedicated section on the rights of future generations and climate justice) provides a framework to operationalize the human right to a healthy environment, as well as rights-based recovery and climate action at all levels.
• UN Working Group’s forthcoming Information Note on Climate Change and the UNGPs

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

This session is a tribute to Professor John G. Ruggie (1944-2021), author of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, who passed away on September 16, 2021.

During his mandate as Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights (2005-2011), Prof. Ruggie led a highly inclusive process of comprehensive research and stakeholder engagement across all backgrounds and regions to develop a global framework for addressing risks to human rights and contributing to a more equitable and sustainable global economy. This work resulted in the ground-breaking UN “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The Guiding Principles were unanimously endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011. Since then, they have provided a pragmatic and normative common platform for various stakeholders – from businesses and governments to unions and civil society groups, and most importantly to affected people.

The annual Forum, another of Prof. Ruggie’s many legacies, has in his words served as “a global town hall meeting, where people from every region and every sector of society could come and share experiences with implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and identify what additional steps might need to be taken to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights in relation to business activity.”

Taking place at the time of the 10th anniversary year of the Guiding Principles, the 2021 Forum will honour Prof. Ruggie's legacy and discuss what is needed to further make his vision a reality over the coming decade.

The session will feature reflections from leaders from different backgrounds who engaged with Prof. Ruggie during his work to develop the Guiding Principles and in later efforts to promote business respect for human rights.

Links and social media:

UNGPs 10th anniversary page (includes link to video statement by Prof. Ruggie): https://www.ohchr.org/ungps10

#UNForumBHR / #bizhumanrights / #UNGPs10plus / #nextdecadeBHR / @ungps10plus

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.
 
Interpretation in English, French and Spanish will be available 

The annual Forum on Business and Human Rights is the UN’s platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue to assess the progress made by states and business in moving the three pillars of “Protect, Respect and Remedy” of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) from paper to practice.
As the UNGPs turned 10 in June 2021, the convergence of the COVID-19 and climate crises, amid a number of other major global challenges, underlined why the need to bridge the gaps between actions of economic actors and respect for people and the planet is more pressing than ever.

Under the overall theme of “The next decade of business and human rights: increasing the pace and scale of action to implement the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”, the opening plenary will feature high profile speakers who will offer critical, original and creative thinking to inspire effective, human rights compliant action by governments and businesses to deliver durable solutions to global challenges.
Among the objectives, the speakers will examine several of the most urgent global challenges where the issues of human rights and the role of business intersect. A key aim of the opening plenary session is to provide leadership perspectives on what is required by States and businesses to implement their respective human rights duties and responsibilities in order to achieve real change in the next decade and beyond. A key goal is to deliver a strong and timely call for action, to provide inspiration and help set the tone for constructive and solution-oriented dialogue over the three Forum days.

Key references:

• The “Road map” for the next decade of the UNGPs developed by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (UNWG) – to be launched at the Forum

• UNGPs anniversary page: Key UNWG publications and statements by world leaders and stakeholders
• Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights at 10: taking stock of the first decade (The Working Group's official stocktaking report, available in all UN languages)
• Reader-friendly version of the UNGPs 10+ stocktaking (English) | Executive summary (English)
• UNGPs and a roadmap for responsible recovery in times of economic crisis

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

About this session
This session asks how to get closer to realizing full implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) over the next decade. It will feature statements by Government representatives on how to:

• Increase the pace of UNGPs implementation over the next decade
• Ensure follow-up of recommendations in the UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the next decade of business and human rights

Background
As the UNGPs turned 10 in June 2021, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights mandated by the Human Rights Council to promote dissemination and implementation of the UNGPs worldwide, took stock of the first decade of implementation.  The stocktaking highlighted that the UNGPs have led to significant progress by providing a common framework for all stakeholders in managing business-related human rights risks and impacts. Yet, considerable challenges remain when it comes to coherent implementation with respect to ensuring better protection and prevention of adverse human rights impacts, with particular attention to the most marginalized and vulnerable, and to ensuring access to remedy for harms that occur.

Following on from the stocktaking, the Working Group is launching its UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the next decade, complementing the assessment of the first decade with forward-looking recommendations for the next one. Building on the stocktaking’s analysis of achievements to date and existing challenges and opportunities, it sets out key action areas for the road ahead and for progressively getting closer to fuller UNGPs realization. Each action area identifies priority goals for what needs to happen and supporting actions to be taken by States and businesses as well as other key stakeholders, all playing a role in realizing UNGPs implementation. Its ultimate objective echoes that of the UNGPs themselves, that they should be translated to practice so as to “achieve tangible results for affected individuals and communities, and thereby also contributing to a socially sustainable globalization.”

The stocktaking and the Roadmap are results of the Working Group’s UNGPs 10+ project, which has been supported by a wide-ranging multi-stakeholder consultation process.

The Working Group has identified eight action areas for moving faster and with greater ambition to support the overall urgent need for more coherent action. The Roadmap elaborates on the priority goals connected to each action areas, setting out what needs to happen over the next decade to scale up UNGPs integration and implementation and corresponding supporting actions to be taken by States and businesses, as well as other stakeholders.

Read the Roadmap here: ohchr.org/ungps10plusroadmap
The following States and regional organizations intervened in the session. Statements from other States are also posted on this page.

• Belgium
• Brazil
• Colombia
• Ecuador
• EU
• Finland
• Germany
• India
• Indonesia
• Kenya
• Malaysia
• Pakistan
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Thailand
• Uganda
• UK
• USA

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.


Interpretation available in English, French and Spanish

Brief description of the session:
At the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the unanimous endorsement by the Human Rights Council of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and drawing on the recently published stocktaking report of the UNWG on the implementation during the first decade and the roadmap for the next decade, this session will discuss key actions  suggested by the roadmap related to respect indigenous peoples rights in business-related context, and explore how they could be effectively put into practice. This discussion will also be informed by the report of IPRI and IWGIA on UNGPS and indigenous peoples: progress achieved, the implementation gap and challenges for the next decade, and the session on indigenous peoples of the regional forums ( including LAC )

Objectives of the session:
Discuss concrete ways to move from paper to practice and walk toward tangible implementation of the UNGPS and indigenous peoples for the next decade.

Relevant reading
- Report of the Special Rapporteur on rights of indigenous peoples on Impact of international investment and free trade on the human rights of indigenous peoples - A/70/301
- Report of the Special Rapporteur on rights of indigenous peoples on International investment agreements, including bilateral investment treaties and investment chapters of free trade agreements - A/HRC/33/42
-Report of IPRI and IWGIA on UNGPS and indigenous peoples: progress achieved, the implementation gap and challenges for the next decade
- Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises: "Addressing the human rights impacts of agro-industrial operations on indigenous and local communities: State duties and responsibilities of business enterprises" - A/71/291


La próxima decada de las empresas y los derechos humanos y los pueblos indígenas

Breve resumen de la sesión:
Con motivo del décimo aniversario de la aprobación unánime por parte del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de los Principios Rectores de las Naciones Unidas sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos, y basándose en el informe de evaluación recientemente publicado por el Grupo de Trabajo de las Naciones Unidas sobre la aplicación durante la primera década y la hoja de ruta para la próxima década, en esta sesión se debatirán las acciones clave sugeridas por la hoja de ruta en relación con el respeto de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas en el contexto empresarial, y se explorará cómo podrían ponerse en práctica de manera efectiva. Este debate también se basará en el informe del IPRI y del IWGIA sobre los UNGPS y los pueblos indígenas: avances logrados, la brecha en la implementación y los desafíos para la próxima década, y la sesión sobre los pueblos indígenas de los foros regionales (incluyendo el foro regional de America Latina y el Caribe).

Objetivos de la sesión:
Discutir formas concretas de pasar del papel a la práctica y caminar hacia una implementación tangible de los UNGPS y los pueblos indígenas para la próxima década.

Lecturas relevantes

•  Informe del Relator Especial sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas sobre el impacto de la inversión internacional y el libre comercio sobre los derechos humanos de los pueblos indígenas - A/70/301
• Informe del Relator Especial sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas sobre A/HRC/33/42
• Informe de IPRI and IWGIA sobre los UNGPS y los pueblos indígenas: avances logrados, brecha en la implementación y desafíos para la próxima década
• Informe del Grupo de Trabajo sobre empresas y derechos humanos: "Abordar los impactos de las operaciones agroindustriales sobre los derechos humanos de las comunidades indígenas y locales: Deberes del Estado y responsabilidades de las empresas"- A/71/291

Session organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and United Nations Development Programme B+HR Asia


Brief descrition of the session:
June 2021 marked the tenth anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Over the past few years, business and human rights (BHR) discourse has progressed significantly in Asia despite ongoing challenges. Most efforts to implement the UNGPs have so far targeted States and businesses, including through awareness-raising and capacity building. However, these efforts do not adequately include or engage with youth. This is a missed opportunity, as today the world is home to 1.8 billion young people, over half of which live in Asia, the largest generation of youth in history. Youth have the potential to galvanise support for responsible business conduct as consumers, investors, political activists, student leaders, lawyers, entrepreneurs, social media campaigners, human rights defenders, and future business executives. In fact, youth have already led on critical human rights issues such as climate change. They are also key to protect the interests and rights of the future generations.
Against this backdrop, this session seeks to discuss challenges and opportunities to the effective implementation of the UNGPs in Asia and explore how to harness the role of youth as “levers of change” in promoting responsible business conduct and holding corporate accountable for harm to people or the planet.

Objectivesof the session:
This session aims to:

• Highlight challenges, opportunities and progress in the business and human field in Asia Pacific from the experiences of youth;
• Explore the role of youth in contributing to effective implementation of the UNGPs;
• Explore strategies aimed at engaging youth to promote responsible business conduct and corporate accountability in Asia Pacific; and
• Discuss ways to connect the business and human rights agenda with youth-led social movements in Asia Pacific.

Discussion questions:

• What are some of the key developments concerning the effective implementation of UNGPs in Asia Pacific?
• What is the role of youth in overcoming challenges to the effective implementation of the UNGPs in the next decade?
• What are the perspectives of youth pertaining to business and human rights and the role of business in achieving inclusive and sustainable development?
• How can youth become levers of change in promoting business respect for human rights and corporate accountability?
• What is the role of schools, universities and UN agencies in educating youth about BHR issues that will shape their future?

Background to the discussion:
The importance of youth in this respect is affirmed by the declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, as part of which States committed to the following: “We will listen to and work with youth. Youth is the missing piece for peace and development. As we benefited from the foresight of the founders of the United Nations, young people today will have to live with the consequences of our action and inaction. For too long, the voices of youth have been sidelined in discussions about their future. This has to change now through meaningful engagement with youth.”
Moreover, in his report “Our Common Agenda”, the UN Secretary-General affirms that “now is the time to think for the long term, to deliver more for young people and succeeding generations and to be better prepared for the challenges ahead.” The report states that “[s]ome countries have created opportunities for younger generations to have a voice in decisions that affect them, through youth councils, parliaments and ministries. However, these solutions have not always avoided tokenism, often remaining peripheral to core political processes. Youth-led protest movements are frequently driven by deep distrust of today’s political classes and desire for proper engagement in decision-making. Yet some authorities have clamped down on peaceful protest, dismissed young people as too inexperienced and treated them as beneficiaries or, worse, as threats rather than equal partners. At the global level, young people have been formally recognized as critical actors within intergovernmental frameworks on peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, human rights and humanitarian action. Yet here, too, engagement is not always meaningful, nor does it guarantee geographical, gender, income and other forms of diversity.”

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

Interpretation in English, French and Spanish will be available

Brief description of the session:
Commentary to Principle 26 of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights acknowledges: “Effective judicial mechanisms are at the core of ensuring access to remedy.” Despite continuing barriers to access to remedy for corporate human rights abuses, lawyers, activists and civil society organisations in recent years have successfully pursued cases against corporations in both common law and civil law jurisdictions. What lessons could various stakeholders such as States, corporations, victims, lawyers and civil society organisations (CSOs) learn from these corporate human rights litigation cases? By analysing selected cases from different jurisdictions, this session will try to distil some broad lessons not only for access to remedy and corporate accountability but also for policy makers as well as lawyers and consultants advising corporations. The term “human rights litigation” is used in a broad sense to capture any judicial proceedings aimed at seeking redress for breach of human rights, labour rights and environmental rights.

Key objectives:
The session aims to:

• Assess positive access to remedy outcomes from corporate human rights litigation in recent years;
• Showcases innovative strategies and tools used by lawyers to overcome various obstacles to access to remedy;
• Discuss how human rights litigation against corporations is influencing their behaviour, including in relation to human rights due diligence; and
• Examine the potential effect of mandatory human rights due diligence laws on litigation against corporations. 

Key questions:

• Did these cases result in effective remedy (not merely access to remedy) to the victims of corporate human rights abuses? Any advice for lawyers or CSOs contemplating future litigation as to what works and what does not?   
• How were various procedural, substantive and practical obstacles overcome in these cases? Was the process efficient in terms of cost and time involved?
• Are confidential settlements problematic for corporate accountability purposes (e.g., private settlement of public wrongs)? If so, how could there be more transparency about remedial outcomes?
• Will litigation against corporations discourage them from making public disclosure as part of human rights due diligence or otherwise? How will mandatory human rights due diligence laws change this situation?      
• Any evidence of these cases brining in a systemic change as to how corporations operate and conduct human rights due diligence?

Backgroung documents:

• UN Working Group’s report on “access to effective remedies under the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”
• OHCHR’s report on “improving accountability and access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuse”

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

Session organized by OHCHR B-Tech Project in cooperation with the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Brief description of the session:
 
The State duty to protect against human rights abuses by business including from the tech sector requires states to adopt appropriate measures to prevent and address such abuses. States should consider the “full range of permissible preventative and remedial measures, including policies, legislation, regulations and adjudication” (UNGP1). Pillar I of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) reflects human rights obligations that states have under international human rights law. Therefore, the UNGPs provide a useful roadmap for governments in addressing technology-related human rights issues. Through a smart-mix of measures, the State has a critical role in ensuring good corporate conduct, facilitating multi-stakeholder engagement, and driving the corporate responsibility to respect through measures that foster the uptake of human rights due diligence among technology companies.

As regulatory efforts to require technology companies to respect human rights intensify worldwide, B-Tech is consulting on the idea of a so-called “UNGPs check” that would serve as a tool to inform engagement with policy makers. The “UNGPs check” aims at guiding the legislative process and inform the design of tech regulation to foster rights-respecting regulatory frameworks.
 
Key objectives of the session:

• Discuss the regulatory landscape: approaches by States aiming at protecting human rights in the context of digital technologies and with regard to business conduct
• Consult on the drafting of building blocks for regulatory options for States to incentivize the tech sector to fulfill their responsibility to respect human rights

Key questions:

• How can the UNGPs inform the development of regulation that aims at addressing tech company-related human rights abuses arising in the context of rapid technological transformation?
• What should be the building blocks of a legislative process for addressing adverse human rights impacts stemming from technology company conduct?

Background to the discussion:
The B-Tech Project will contribute to addressing the urgent need to find principled and pragmatic ways to prevent and address human rights harms connected with the development of digital technologies and their use by corporate, government and non-governmental actors, including individual users. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) provide a comprehensive and authoritative framework that can inform efforts by a range of actors, including governments and companies, to identify, prevent, mitigate and remedy human rights harm related to digital technologies. The premise of the B-Tech Project is that using the lens of all three pillars – Protect, Respect, Remedy - of the UNGPs can help clarify the respective roles and responsibilities of States and the private sector in relation to specific issues.

Background documents and relevant links:

• Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights - Disruptive technologies and rights-based resilience

Empowering people and building a business and human rights community in Central and Eastern Europe

Organized by the Working Group on Business and Human Rights in collaboration with the Business and Human Rights Lab at the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University in Ukraine and the Polish Institute for Human Rights and Business

As the UNGPs turned 10 in June 2021, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights took stock of the first decade of implementation. The stocktaking highlighted that the UNGPs have led to significant progress by providing a common framework for all stakeholders in managing business-related human rights risks and impacts, but that considerable gaps remain to effectively prevent and remedy harm caused by business, particularly for those in most vulnerable situations. Meaningful progress over the next 10 years depends on how these gaps are addressed.

This session provides an opportunity for States and other stakeholder in CEE region to share their own commitments and plans for scaling-up implementation and effectiveness of the Guiding Principles in the next decade in the region.

This Forum session is part of the Forum track on trends and challenges in promoting business respect for human rights in the context of each region of the world in the context of the Working Group’s project ‘Business and human rights: towards a decade of global implementation' (also known as “UNGPs 10+ / Next Decade BHR”).

Brief description of the session:
The session seeks to bring various relevant stakeholders together, including States, businesses, and business associations, investors, civil society actors and international organizations to discuss business and human rights issues in the Central and Eastern European context. The session will provide a platform to exchange knowledge on the region-specific challenges, share positive developments, as well as forward looking plans for scaling-up action to strengthen implementation of the UNGPs in the next decade and beyond. Among specific issues to be discussed, the session will consider the essential elements of a conducive environment for promoting responsible business conduct and discuss positive practices to overcome existing and systemic challenges, including through empowering stakeholders, building a strong business and human rights multi-stakeholder community as preconditions for moving forward in the next decade to a more effective implementation of the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs).

Looking ahead, the region specific challenges require not only better regulation in a “smart mix” of legislative and policy initiatives, but more effective enforcement mechanisms, stronger civil society participation, and bottom-up and inclusive initiatives and strategies which are critical to the improvement of human rights record of companies operating in the region and the creation of a strong business and human rights multi-stakeholder community in the entire Central and Eastern European region.

Key objectives of the session:

• to identify the most significant obstacles and opportunities to implement the UNGPs in the countries of the region;
• to illustrate, through selected case studies, how transparent, multistakeholder and inclusive approaches may enhance/improve corporate respect for human rights and may contribute to the creation of a strong business and human rights community;
• to discuss ways in which victims in the Central and Eastern European region may be empowered in seeking access to effective remedy against business related human rights abuses;

 
Key questions:

• How governments, businesses and civil society actors successfully are overcoming the region-specific challenges to the effective implementation of UNGPs?
• What reforms would create a more conducive environment for responsible business in Central and Eastern Europe? How can multi-stakeholder efforts help to build transformative business models for the future in the region?
• Which good practices and key actors are there in the region for empowering victims in seeking effective remedy for business related human rights abuses?

 
Background to the discussion:

The very diverse region of Central and Eastern Europe continues to experience a low level of awareness on business and human rights. This is due to many factors, including a deficient rule of law environment, low legal awareness, the absence of strong democratic institutions, shrinking space for civil society, weak trade unions, the historic State control on economic processes with State-owned and municipality owned businesses that are not necessarily leading by example in their role as economic actors, as well as the often-ineffective systems of remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuses.

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.


Role of national human rights institutions in facilitating access to remedy: Different pathways 

• Organizers: Working Group on Business and Human Rights, as supported by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI)

As the UNGPs turned 10 in June 2021, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights took stock of the first decade of implementation in the context of the Working Group’s project ‘Business and human rights: towards a decade of global implementation' (also known as “UNGPs 10+ / Next Decade BHR”). The stocktaking highlighted that the UNGPs have led to significant progress by providing a common framework for all stakeholders in managing business-related human rights risks and impacts, but that considerable gaps remain to effectively prevent and remedy harm caused by business, particularly for those in most vulnerable situations. Meaningful progress over the next 10 years depends on how these gaps are addressed.

Brief description of the session

National human rights institutions (NHRIs) play a critical role in protecting and promoting human rights, including in the business and human rights context. The UN Working Group on Business and Rights in its June 2021 report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/47/39/Add.3) articulated different pathways – direct, indirect, and foundational – available for NHRIs to facilitate access to remedy for business-related human rights abuses. The session will try to match the “on paper” recommendations contained in this report with “practice” on the ground, especially in times of challenges posed by COVID-19. In particular, it will focus on NHRIs’ practices regarding collaboration with other judicial and non-judicial remedy mechanisms, cooperation amongst NHRIs in cross-border and transnational cases, and protection of civil society organisations and human rights defenders. The session will also look at the role that UN agencies and/or other organisations such as the GANHRI, regional networks of NHRIs, the UNDP and the OHCHR could play in strengthening the capacity of NHRIs in implementing the recommendations contained in the report.

Key objectives of the session

• To illustrate – through good practices, measures, and tools – the ways in which NHRIs are already facilitating, or could facilitate, access to remedy for business-related human rights abuses in line with the recommendations of the Working Group;
• To highlight the challenges and limitations that NHRIs face in meeting facilitating access to remedy in direct, indirect, and foundational ways and explore how those challenges could be overcome; 
• To discuss the role that various UN agencies and/or other organisations to play in strengthening the capacity of NHRIs in the business and human rights field.

Key questions

• How are NHRIs facilitating access to remedy for business-related human rights abuses in direct, indirect, and foundational ways?
• What are the innovative practices adopted by NHRIs to collaborate with other judicial and non-judicial remedy mechanisms, cooperate with peer NHRIs in cross-border and transnational cases, and protect civil society organisations and human rights defenders?
• What are the main challenges and limitations faced by NHRIs in facilitating access to remedy? How could be these challenges be overcome, especially by actions taken by States and UN agencies?
• What practical tools have been developed by UN agencies or other organisations such as GANHRI, regional networks of NHRIs, OHCHR and UNDP to strengthen the capacity of NHRIs to fulfil their mandates in relation to business and human rights issues?

Background to the discussion

The important role of NHRIs in promoting the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and preventing business-related human rights abuses is widely accepted, as well as their bridging role between stakeholders in promoting transparent, participatory and inclusive national processes. In July 2018, the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/RES/38/13) requested the UN Working Group "to analyse further the role of national human rights institutions in facilitating access to remedy for business-related human rights abuses, and to convene a two-day global consultation on these issues, open to all stakeholders, and to inform the Council by its forty-fourth session as appropriate". In line with this mandate, the Working Group invited NHRIs and other stakeholders to provide input. It also organised, in collaboration with GANHRI, a global consultation in Geneva in October 2019. The UN Human Rights Council (A/HRC/RES 44/15) then further encouraged the UN Working Group “to continue its work on the role of national human rights institutions in promoting business and human rights”, and the Working Group submitted its report to the Human Rights Council in June 2021 on the role of NHRIs in facilitating access to remedy for business-related human rights abuses (A/HRC/47/39/Add.3) in which it reviewed the various direct, indirect and foundational ways of the work of NHRIs. Against this background and in line with the overarching theme of the 10th UN Forum, this session will focus on how NHRIs and other organisations could implement the Working Group’s recommendations in this report. The session will also reflect on the role that NHRI could play in implementing the roadmap proposed by the Working Group as part of “UNGPs 10+” project.

About this session
This UN Forum session is framed around the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights’ (UNWG) new UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the Next Decade, with recommendations on how to scale up implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

The session will feature:

• A brief overview of the Roadmap’s action areas and priority goals.
• Perspectives from business, civil society, indigenous peoples, and trade union representatives on how to realize the recommendations and a decade of UNGPs action.

Background
As the UNGPs turned 10 in June 2021, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, as part of its mandate to promote the UNGPs, took stock of the first decade of implementation. The stocktaking highlighted that the UNGPs have led to significant progress by providing a common framework for all stakeholders in managing business-related human rights risks and impacts, but that considerable implementation and coherence challenges remain. As follow-on from the stocktaking, the Working Group developed its UNGPs 10+ Roadmap for the Next Decade with forward-looking recommendations for the next ten years. Building on the stocktaking’s analysis of achievements to date and existing challenges and opportunities, it sets out key action areas for the road ahead for progressively getting closer to fuller UNGPs realization. Each action area identifies priority goals and supporting actions to be taken by States and businesses as well as others that play a role in realizing UNGPs implementation.

Read the UNGPs 10+ Roadmap: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/WG/ungps10plusroadmap.pdf 

UNGPs 10th anniversary page: https://www.ohchr.org/ungps10

#UNForumBHR / #bizhumanrights / #UNGPs10plus / #nextdecadeBHR / @ungps10plus

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.


Session organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, in collaboration with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Front Line Defenders, OECD Watch, SOMO, Institute for Human Rights and Business, Publish What You Pay, Swedwatch and the Zero Tolerance Initiative.

Interpretation in English, French, and Spanish

Brief description of the session: 
Every day across the globe, people bravely speak out against injustice, often at great personal risk. Human rights defenders are at the forefront of promoting and protecting our human rights, natural resources, and shared planet, as well as playing a vital role in drawing attention to the harms created by abusive business practices and monitoring companies’ compliance with business and human rights standards. Human rights defenders are not anti-development, but they are often painted as such and face a range of attacks for merely speaking up against business-related human rights harms, especially in jurisdictions where the rule of law is weak and respect for human rights is lacking.

Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) are one type of attack against human rights defenders. These are civil or criminal lawsuits brought, or initiated, by business actors that divert time, energy, and resources away from human rights defenders’ vital work and infringe upon a range of human rights, including the freedom of expression and of assembly and association. Recent research by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre shows that SLAPPs are a global problem; the analysis identified 355 cases that bear the hallmarks of SLAPPs brought or initiated by business actors since 2015. According to this research, the highest number of SLAPPs took place in Latin America (39%), followed by Asia and the Pacific (25%), Europe & Central Asia (18%), Africa (8.5%), and North America (9%). Also, 63% of cases involved criminal charges. Most individuals and groups facing SLAPPs (65% of cases) raised concerns about projects in four sectors: mining (108), agriculture and livestock (76), logging and lumber (29), and palm oil (20).

Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, business enterprises have a responsibility to respect human rights and to identify, prevent and mitigate human rights risks to human rights defenders. Each of these actors has a critical responsibility in stopping the use of SLAPPs to silence and intimidate. In June 2021, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights released the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Guidance on Ensuring Respect for Human Rights Defenders (A/HRC/47/39/Add.2) which included recommendations to States and businesses to address the problem of SLAPPs.

This session will present the global trend of SLAPPs including an overview of the problem in terms of the defenders most affected, the business sectors most commonly involved, the types of proceedings brought, and the common charges. The audience will also hear from defenders being targeted by SLAPPs, as well as find out about the promising initiatives from States and business enterprises to address this growing and urgent issue. The speakers will explore actions that States, and businesses need to take to mitigate and eliminate the use of SLAPPs against human rights defenders.

Objective of the session:
Increase awareness of the scope and nature of SLAPPs globally, the associated human rights harms, and actions that States and business enterprises need to take under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to mitigate this global problem. The session aims to provide an overview of the seriousness of the phenomenon, the negative consequences for the rule of law and democratic order, as well as provide recommendations to States and businesses on best practices for mitigation and redress.

Format of the session:
The session will start with an introduction by Anita Ramasastry, member of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, including the announcement of the recipient of the 2021 Human Rights and Business Award, an annual award "for outstanding work by human rights defenders in the Global South or former Soviet Union addressing the human rights impacts of business in those regions". The recipient will briefly accept the award. Further information about the award and the 2021 recipient will be posted on the session webpage as the award is announced.
Anita Ramasastry will then briefly present the Working Group’s guidance, presented to the Human Rights Council in June. She will also outline the increasing use of legal measures to intimidate and criminalize defenders through SLAPPs, and the Working Group’s reflections on this scourge. She will focus on how the filing of SLAPPs is aimed at silencing human rights defenders’ critical voices, restricting their access to remedy, dampening the appetite of others to speak out, and restricting the freedoms of expression and of assembly and association. The session will then hear from a range of speakers with personal experience of SLAPPs, and different ways to address them.

Key questions:

• What is the scope and nature of SLAPPs globally?
• What are the associated human rights harms caused to human rights defenders by their use?
• What are the positive steps taken by businesses to address such attacks against defenders?
• What are the challenges that human rights defenders face when trying to defend themselves against SLAPPs?
• What are different stakeholders doing to address the problem, such as national and regional bar associations, and regional organisations?

Background documents:

• The Working Group’s work on human rights defenders
• The Working Group’s guidance presented to the Human Rights Council in June 2021
• BHRRC report analysing the use of SLAPPs globally, launched June 2021: “SLAPPed but not silenced: Defending human rights in the face of legal risks”. The full briefing is available in English and Spanish and the Executive Summary is available in French.
• BHRRC database of 150+ cases that bear the hallmarks of SLAPPs
• New SLAPP portal on the BHRRC website with relevant resources
• BHRRC article: “Fighting back against the use of litigation to quash dissent”
• Research by human rights defenders and civil society coalitions to stop the use of SLAPPs: Asina Loyiko, Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, On ne se taira pas, and Protect the Protest
• Statement released by the Investor Alliance for Human Rights 
• Study on SLAPP commissioned by the European Parliament
• CoE Commissioner on Human Rights

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.


As mandatory measures are being further developed, there is a need to consider how enforcement of such measures can be effective in practice, ensuring that the focus of implementation is to drive better outcomes for people. Doing so will depend on including groups at risk of vulnerability or marginalization, trade unions, human rights defenders and others in the consultative processes leading to the drafting of legislation.
In other words, there is a need to design legislation and its enforcement to drive meaningful due diligence, including by clarifying expectations on the quality of due diligence; how companies should document due diligence beyond simply declaring that they have done it; and how to guarantee remediation. As mandatory human rights due diligence laws emerge in different jurisdictions, the UNGPs (together with OECD Guidelines which integrate the UNGPs due diligence standard) can provide a focal point for consistency and quality of laws. However, questions of enforcement remain open. Among the key issues for effective delivery of mandatory due diligence legislation, are the needs for a structure (national, regional, global) that can support implementers (regulators, business) and other stakeholders with a role to play (reinforce implementation drive through dialogue, engagement and monitoring).

This forum session will involve different stakeholders in dialogue on the most effective set of enforcement mechanisms needed for meaningful due diligence.

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.


Interpretation will be available in English, French and Spanish

Brief description of the session:
The VI Regional Forum on BHR in LAC -4-6 October discussed key actions that should be incorporated into the regional roadmap on BHR.  Through 46 sessions and other submissions received, key actions for States, business and other stakeholders have been identified. The recommendations of this regional roadmap are based on the important advances generated by the implementation of the  "Responsible Business Conduct in Latin America and the Caribbean project “(RBCLAC)  Project, which constitutes a unprecedented collaboration between OHCHR, OECD, ILO and ,with the support of the European Union (EU). The Projects seeks to support the development and implementation of public policies of BHR, to promote the strengthening of access to remedy, to Enhance the understanding and capacity of stakeholders (especially business) to implement due diligence, and to  to identify, prevent and address adverse impacts on human rights, decent work and to Facilitate the sharing of experiences and lessons learned in this area. The recommendations also draw on report and consultation processes of the UNGPS 10+ project, as well [1]as the discussion of the six Regional Consultations and Forums on Business and Human Rights for Latin America and the Caribbean,[2]and other key studies carried out by OHCHR, the Working Group, OECD and ILO, as well as other partner organizations.
During this Forum’s session, the regional roadmap for the next decade of business and human right will be presented. Its practical implementation and monitoring will be then discussed with key stakeholders.
After a presentation of the regional roadmap, key stakeholders will discuss how they could implement these recommendations and agree on specific actions to track the progress and foster multi-stakeholder collaboration for the next decade.

Objectives:

• Present the final regional roadmap
• Discuss concrete ideas to foster implementation and track advances, including through multi-stakeholders collaboration

La hoja de ruta regional para la próxima década en America Latina y el Caribe (ALC)

Breve descripción de la sesión:
En el VI Foro Regional sobre DDHH en ALC -4-6 de octubre se discutieron las acciones clave que deben ser incorporadas en la hoja de ruta regional sobre DDHH.  A través de 46 sesiones y otras presentaciones recibidas, se han identificado acciones clave para los Estados, las empresas y otras partes interesadas. Las recomendaciones de esta hoja de ruta regional se basan en los importantes avances generados a traes de la implementación del "Proyecto Conducta Empresarial Responsable en América Latina y el Caribe" (CERALC) que constituye una colaboración sin precedente entre la ACNUDH la OCDE, la OIT y, con el apoyo de la Unión Europea (UE). El proyecto busca apoyar el desarrollo y la aplicación de políticas públicas de conducta empresarial responsable, promover el fortalecimiento del acceso a reparación, mejorar la comprensión y la capacidad de las partes interesadas (especialmente las empresas) para aplicar la debida diligencia y facilitar el intercambio de experiencias y lecciones aprendidas en esta área. Las recomendaciones también se basan en los informes y procesos de consulta del proyecto UNGPS 10+, así como de las discusiones de las seis Consultas y Foros Regionales sobre Empresas y Derechos Humanos para América Latina y el Caribe, y en otros estudios clave realizados por la ACNUDH, el Grupo de Trabajo, la OCDE y la OIT, así como por otras organizaciones asociadas.
Durante la sesión de este Foro, se presentará la hoja de ruta regional para la próxima década de empresas y derechos humanos. A continuación, se debatirá su aplicación práctica y su seguimiento con las principales partes interesadas.
Tras la presentación de la hoja de ruta regional, representantes de diferentes sectores debatirán cómo podrían poner en práctica estas recomendaciones y acordarán acciones específicas para hacer un seguimiento de los avances y fomentar la colaboración entre las distintas partes interesadas para la próxima década.

Objetivos de la sesión:

• Presentar la hoja de ruta regional definitiva
• Debatir ideas concretas para fomentar la aplicación y hacer un seguimiento de los avances, incluso mediante la colaboración de múltiples partes interesadas

[1] See UN Doc. A/HRC/47/39.
 
  [2] Fifth Latin American and Caribbean Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights UN Doc. A/HRC/47/39/Add.4 (11 June 2021); Fourth Latin American and Caribbean Regional Consultation on Business and Human Rights UN Doc. A/HRC/44/43/Add.4 (8 June 2020); Third Latin American and Caribbean Regional Consultation on Business and Human Rights A/HRC/38/48/Add.3 (4 June 2019); First Latin American and Caribbean Regional Consultation on Business and Human Rights A/HRC/26/25/Add.2 (24 April 2014). See also videos of the sessions of the VI Regional Forum available at: https://vifororegional.empresasyderechoshumanos.org.

Session organized by the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the United Nations Office and Other International Organizations at Geneva (Chair-Rapporteur of the OEIGWG)

Interpretation in English, French, Spanish and Russian will be provided by DOCIP for Indigenous Peoples

Brief description of the session:
The open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIGWG) on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights was established by HRC Resolution 26/9 of June 2014, with the concrete mandate “to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises”. Since 2015, the Working Group has held seven sessions, with increasing participation by States and other relevant stakeholders taking part in the sessions’ discussions and deliberations. In the last 4 years (4th, 5th, 6th and 7th sessions), this process has incorporated a new pragmatic, inclusive and progressive approach in full synergy with other existing frameworks. In spite of the remaining different views and assessments regarding certain provisions of the Third Revised Draft of the legally binding instrument, several States and other relevant stakeholders that participated during the 7th session of the OEIGWG from 25-29 October 2021 recognized the improvements introduced in the text, noting the greater clarity and consistency among its various provisions.

The future legally binding instrument (LBI) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) can and should be complementary and mutually reinforcing. Recent advances in legal and regulatory initiatives, as well as those in the process of elaboration, including the OEIGWG at the international level, clearly demonstrate the need for non-binding standards on business and human rights to be complemented with binding norms. This will help achieve the common objective of strengthening the protection of human rights and promoting effective corporate accountability and redress for victims of abuses committed in the context of business activities.

Key objectives of the session:
The session aims to:

• Facilitate the stock-taking and lesson-sharing between governments and other relevant actors, on how the two processes mentioned above can benefit and strengthen each other, in light of the conclusions of the 7th session of the Working Group and the recommendations of the Chair-Rapporteur, and the concrete recent legal developments, trends, challenges and good practices in preventing and addressing business-related human rights impacts.
• Explore the opportunities provided by the LBI to make concrete progress towards the protection of human rights in the business sector, improved accountability and more effective remedies for victims, as well as to strengthen the complementary implementation of the UNGPs.

 
Key questions:

• How can the future LBI and the implementation of the UNGPs promote and facilitate the respect, protection and fulfillment in the context of business activities?
• In terms of process, how States and all relevant actors could contribute constructively to build consensus around the draft text of the LBI?

Background to the discussion:
Ecuador, in its capacity of Chair-Rapporteur of the OEIGWG, has submitted the Zero Draft in 2018, the Revised Draft (Rev.1) in 2019, the Second Revised Draft (Rev.2) in 2020, and in 2021 the Third Revised Draft (Rev.3). The Rev.3 sought to further align its provisions with existing instruments and frameworks, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the ILO Tripartite Declaration on Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, and other relevant ILO instruments, as well as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, among others, under a pragmatic and progressive approach.

The 7th session concluded with the adoption of the recommendations of the Chair-Rapporteur and the conclusions of the Working Group, which included inter alia, the Chair-Rapporteur invitation to a group of Ambassadors in Geneva to act as “Friends of the Chair” to start consultations with a view to facilitate and advance work on the draft legally binding instrument during the inter-sessional period. The Chair-Rapporteur will update the draft legally binding instrument taking into consideration the compilation of the concrete textual proposals submitted by States during the seventh session and the outcomes of the consultations as reported by the “Friends of the Chair”, and circulate it, no later than the end of July 2022. In addition, the Chair-Rapporteur will note the concrete textual proposals submitted by the civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders during the 7th session, for the appropriate consideration of the States in the work on the draft legally binding instrument after the session. They will be consulted by the “Friends of the Chair” and be invited to submit written inputs.

The full report and documents of the 7th and previous sessions can be found at https://bit.ly/30Eg57J

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.


Interpretation available in English, French and Spanish

Brief description of the session:
In its 2021 report to the UN General Assembly (A/76/238), the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights highlights that the current international investment regime reflects three “I”s: imbalance, inconsistency, and irresponsibility. The report, which unpacks Principles 9 of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), urges States to ensure that all existing and future investment agreements are compatible with their international human rights obligations. Building on recommendations made by the UNCTAD , the South Centre and other organisations, the Working Group outlines five complementary pathways for States to harness the potential of international investment agreements (IIAs) in encouraging responsible business conduct on the part of investors and holding them accountable for abusing internationally recognised human rights. This session will focus on discussing strategies to achieve a faster and systemic reform of IIAs and the wider investment policy frameworks.

Key objectives of the session:
The session aims to:

• Highlight the recommendations made by the UN Working Group in its 2021 report;
• Examine how the reform of IIAs could promote business respect for human rights and strengthen access to remedy for communities affected by investment-related projects;
• Explore the role of IIAs in promoting responsible investment, supporting an inclusive and sustainable economy, and mitigating climate change; and
• Discuss the role of various international or regional organisations in supporting States to make structural and systemic reform of the existing international investment regime. 

Key discussion questions:

• What are the main barriers or challenges in reforming the international investment regime, including the investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism?
• Does the COVID-19 pandemic present an opportunity or bring an additional challenge?
• What role could IIAs play in facilitating transition to net zero economies and overcoming existing socio-economic inequalities?
• How is the role of communities affected by investment-related projects in the reform of IIAs, including harnessing their potential to hold investors accountable?
• What role could organisations such as UNCTAD, South Centre and OECD play to ensure that reform of IIAs is not superficial or symbolic?

Background documents:

• UN Working Group’s report on “human rights-compatible international investment agreements”
• UN Working Group’s project on International Investment Agreements (IIAs) and Human Rights
• UNCTAD’s Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development 
• UNCTAD’s IIA Reform Accelerator 
• South Centre: Investment Policy Options for Facing COVID-19 Related ISDS Claims 
• South Centre: Designing an International Legally Binding Instrument on Business and Human Rights
• Additional publications from South Centre available at www.southcentre.int

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.


Session organized  by the International Trade Center Trade for Sustainable Development department and the UN Working Group on business and human rights
 
Interpretation will be available in English, French and Spanish
 

Short description of the session:
After more than two decades of private governance initiatives to promote corporate social responsibility and responsible business conduct, human rights, labour rights and environmental rights continue to be violated within global supply chains. Particularly vulnerable are the millions of workers lower down the supply chain- including women, migrant and children workers who constitute a ‘hidden’ workforce, remaining constantly at risk. To address this, the European Commission in 2020 announced that it will release the draft of a new mandatory HREDD legislation in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The panel will explore implications of this legislation for SMEs in contributing to building a more decent supply chains. It will also reflect on the role of other “smart mix” measures which could complement mandatory HREDD legislation to prevent, mitigate and remediate human rights abuses. Building on ITC’s active work on inclusive trade and SMEs, the session will look at the power of SMEs to bring about transformational change, drive poverty and inequality reduction, and ‘lift up the bar’ for the most at-risk rights-holders to be at the centre of all business efforts.

Objectives:

• Illustrate the need for ‘smart mix’ approaches to ensure that human rights and environmental standards are uphold in supply chains
• Explore the risks and opportunities brought by the EU legislation for SMEs in the Global South and demonstrate the crucial role of SMEs in ensuring that basic human rights are protected
• Explain how ITC, OHCHR and the UN Working Group on business and human rights could support SMEs and provide solutions for human rights-holders to be put at the centre of any business decisions

Key discussion questions:

• How will the new EU legislation affect SMEs in the Global South?
• What tools and type of support will be needed to implement the law in a meaningful way, for the workers and  communities on the Global South?
• How to avoid that the HREDD responsibility and compliance burden is all shifted to SMEs?
• What opportunity this new legislative context can bring for SMEs?

Background to the discussion: 
The European Union’s proposed mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (mHREDD) legislation will have significant consequences for companies and supply chains worldwide. The session will explore the challenges and opportunities of the law for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It will discuss how SMEs in the Global South will play a crucial role in ensuring that human and environmental rights are fully respected in the production and manufacturing of commodities reaching the European markets, and adequately promoted in their communities.

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.


Session organized by the UN Working Group on business and human rights and OHCHR

Interpretation will be available in English, French and Spanish


Brief description of the session:
As 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights (UNGPs), the Forum will look back at achievements and challenges of the first decade of implementation. This year’s Forum will also look ahead to the next decade and discuss ways forward for addressing major current challenges and seizing opportunities for realizing wider and more comprehensive implementation of the UNGPs by all States and businesses.
As part of the regionally focused dialogues of the Forum, this session will focus on how to realize the “UNGPs 10+ roadmap” recommendations in the African region. It will provide an additional opportunity for States to share their own commitments and plans for scaling up action to implement the UNGPs over the next decade, in an exchange with other relevant stakeholders.
In the last 10 years, UNGPs implementation efforts have been uneven across regions. For the next decade, a lot more attention and action will be needed in all regions, including Africa. Allocation of financial resources to support implementation efforts, including a significant increase in capacity-building, political will and opportunities for peer learning, have been identified as key aspects for the road ahead for the continent to develop a more sustainable path forward, that balances the great opportunities offered by the abundant natural resources and need for investments that respect people and environment. This session will discuss current challenges and what is required to address them in the next 10 years of action. Discussions on the way forward will build on recent actions and initiatives taken by various stakeholders aiming to develop effective regulatory frameworks to strengthen prevention of business-related abuses and to ensure accountability for harm caused. This includes initiatives by the African Union, African governments, business and civil society.

Key objectives of the session: 
The session aims to:

• How to realize the “UNGPs 10+ roadmap” recommendations in the Africa region
• Consider the role of the African Union, including its Policy on Business and Human Right in taking meaningful action to promote responsible business conduct by States and businesses in line with the UNGPs in the next decade;
• Share good practices and learn from the experience of ongoing efforts led by governments, business, civil society and other actors aimed at advancing implementation of the UNGPs in  Africa;
• Discuss how to build on these initiatives to move forward in the next decade of implementation of the UNGPs.

Key questions:

• Where do gaps and challenges remain in the region? What has not worked to date?
• What are the key obstacles, drivers, and priorities that need to be addressed to achieve fuller realisation of the UNGPs in Africa?
• What can be learned from the progress made, in order to find further solutions for advancing implementation of the UNGPs in Africa in the next 10 years?

Session organized by the Working Group on Business and Human Rights

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

Brief description of the session:
As the UNGPs turned 10 in June 2021, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights took stock of the first decade of implementation. The stocktaking highlighted that the UNGPs have led to significant progress by providing a common framework for all stakeholders in managing business-related human rights risks and impacts, but that considerable gaps remain to effectively prevent and remedy harm caused by business, particularly for those in the most vulnerable situations. Meaningful progress over the next 10 years will depend on how these gaps are addressed.

This session provides an opportunity for WEOG States to share their own commitments and plans for scaling-up implementation and effectiveness of the UNGPs in the next decade in the region.
This Forum session is part of the Forum track on trends and challenges in promoting business respect for human rights in the context of each region of the world. In the context of the Working Group’s project ‘Business and human rights: towards a decade of global implementation' (also known as “UNGPs 10+ / Next Decade BHR”), it provides an opportunity for WEOG States to share their own achievements, commitments, innovations, policies and plans. It also offers a chance for WEOG States to respond to the recommendations made by the Working Group as part of the UNGPs 10+ project.

Participants will discuss legal and policy innovations and practices on which progress can be built across the region for strengthening action to address business and human rights issues and promote responsible business conduct in the next decade.

The session will involve presentations by governments that are moving ahead with regulatory and policy innovations including promoting better human rights due diligence, effectively developing, revising and implementing national action plans on business and human rights and strengthening access to effective remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuses. The presentations will be complemented by perspectives from other relevant stakeholders in a spirit of constructive dialogue.

Objectives of the session:

• Share lessons learned from recent government efforts to drive greater policy coherence on business and human rights issues, and reach a significant scale in the implementation by business enterprises of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights.
• Facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue around lessons learned and way forward, including on how to strengthen a race to the top among WEOG States.
• Reflect on the ways to implement within the region the recommendations made by the Working Group through its UNGPs 10+ project.

Background documents and submissions:

• European Parliament resolution of 10 March 2021 with recommendations to the Commission on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability (2020/2129(INL))
• Hearing the human: Ensuring due diligence legislation effectively amplifies the voices of those affected by irresponsible business
• Can nature get it right?: Discussion on rights to nature – European Parliament study
• European Parliament press release, 20 May 2021 “Environmental liability rules need revamping”
• European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights report, 6 October 2021 “Business and human rights – access to remedy”
• Sustainable Corporate Governance – NGO Briefing
• ISDS reform and Working Group III: Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform

COVID-19 lessons learnt and moving forward

Organized by the Working Group on Business and Human Rights 

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE. 

Brief description of the session:
The session seeks to bring various relevant stakeholders together, including States, businesses, and civil society actors to discuss the consequences and the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as how to build back better and to address emerging new global crises on the horizon by forging a new normal based on the globally agreed human rights standards provided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). More particularly, the session will focus on the responsibility of States to create and strengthen an enabling environment for businesses to respect human rights in their operations, even in challenging times, as well as on the responsibility of businesses to develop actions, policies and transformative business models by putting people, human rights and environmental protection at the centre, even in crisis situations. The session will also look at methods of enhancing corporate accountability as a critical means to address emerging crisis situations and prevent future human rights abuses from developing, as well as ways in which effective access to remedy for wrongdoing can be enhanced.
The session intends to help the Working Group to identify essential components, ongoing developments, and key messages to feed into its upcoming report to the UN Human Rights Council which will consider the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. In relation to this, the Working Group also welcomes written input on the subject matter from all stakeholders.

Key objectives of the session:

• to gain an overview of the most significant obstacles for States during a crisis situation to ensure an enabling environment for business to respect human rights;
• to identify opportunities to build back better by States and businesses while ensuring action to prevent business-related human rights abuses and protect the human rights of individuals and communities;
• to exchange views on how States and business should act to mitigate against the negative human rights impacts of future crises;
• to illustrate how implementing the UNGPs and effective human rights due diligence policies helped companies to manage risks to people during the pandemic, and when emerging from the pandemic;
• to consider good practices by companies and how such practices and transformative business models can help businesses to adapt to crisis situations and to implement the UNGPs;
• to hear the voice and the perspectives of civil society, affected communities and workers about the challenges faced during the pandemic, as well as their views on the recovery process underway in different countries;
• to understand how access to remedy for business-related human rights impacts deteriorated during the pandemic, and to find solutions for more effective access to remedy schemes at times of crisis.

 
Key questions:

• How can States support business to respect human rights during, and when emerging from the pandemic? How can States hold business accountable for not respecting human rights during crisis situations?
• How should businesses adapt to face global challenges, to avoid human rights risks and harms to people and the planet, and to become more resilient and sustainable overall?
• How can all stakeholders engage in constructive and meaningful dialogue to address business-related human rights abuses in crisis situations, to build alternatives for recovery and to prevent human rights abuses in future crisis situations?
• Which COVID-19 crisis specific remediation efforts against business-related human rights abuses proved to be the most successful and how can they serve as examples to follow in the future?

Background to the discussion:
The global pandemic and the related severe socioeconomic consequences have been a test for governments and businesses and it is critical not to lower human rights standards. It is vital for both to take a sustainable people-centred path while fighting COVID-19 and any future crises, including climate change, pollution and other human rights challenges stemming from injustices and growing inequalities. Moving forward in the next decade to more effective implementation of the UNGPs requires from both States and businesses a stronger commitment to build back better and to consider transformative business models to better face other crises. The session will build on the recommendations in the Working Group’s Information Note “A Roadmap for Responsible Recovery in Times of Crisis”, and its related statement “Ensuring that business respects human rights during the Covid-19 crisis and beyond: The relevance of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,” as well as OHCHR’s October 2020 note, “Business and Human Rights in Times of COVID-19.” The session will also serve as important input to the Working Group’s preparations for its report to the Human Rights Council in 2022.

Additional background documents and links:
“A Roadmap for Responsible Recovery in Times of Crisis”, Information Note by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/WG/Responsible-recovery-information-note.pdf

“Ensuring that business respects human rights during the Covid-19 crisis and beyond: The relevance of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,” Working Group on Business and Human Rights, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25837&LangID=E

“Business and Human Rights in Times of COVID-19,” Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/BusinessAndHR-COVID19.pdf

 A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

Brief description of the session
This panel discussion will explore links between corporate political engagement practices and responsible business conduct. Panelists will discuss how to encourage responsible political engagement, how to prevent undue political influence by businesses—sometimes termed “corporate capture”— and how such activities may undermine and be inconsistent with the corporate responsibility to respect human rights set out by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“the Guiding Principles”).

Background
When conducted responsibly, corporate political engagement is a legitimate avenue for the private sector to exercise leverage to improve policymaking and prevent harm. When conducted irresponsibly, however, corporate political engagement can direct political processes away from the public interest and toward the interest of the business entity itself, leading to business-related human rights abuses. Such practices are sometimes referred to as “corporate capture” or “undue corporate political influence.”

This panel discussion will focus on how businesses should account for their responsibility to respect human rights under the Guiding Principles, and how they should exercise human rights due diligence (HRDD) when engaging in a variety of activities in the political sphere – from lobbying to political donations to decisions about whether to speak publicly about policy debates that may impact their employees and other members of their community.

Following introductory remarks from the moderator, panelists will discuss several pressing contemporary human rights issues that are caused or exacerbated by irresponsible corporate political engagement; case studies will be provided from the tobacco, agribusiness, and climate fields. Panelists will describe the specific corporate political engagement tactics that are leading to these negative human rights outcomes; explain how this conduct is inconsistent with the business responsibility to respect human rights under the Guiding Principles; and examine how States have fallen short of their Guiding Principles duties in failing to sufficiently regulate corporate political activities.

Thereafter, panelists will discuss examples of good practice currently utilized by States and businesses around the world to ensure that corporate political engagement remains responsible and does not lead to human rights abuses. Speakers will examine which strategies have been effective in which geographies and recommend measures that should be implemented more widely to engender greater adherence to the Guiding Principles. Potential solutions include pledges made by corporations, actions by the investor community to shape responsible corporate behavior, as well as guidelines for States to avoid conflicts of interest relating to the private sector’s engagement in policy making This will include discussion of how HRDD can identify negative impacts for people and planet resulting from corporate political engagement activities, and how businesses should implement HRDD effectively to prevent and mitigate such impacts.

The primary aim of this session is to identify actionable solutions for both States and businesses. The discussion will focus on recommending concrete steps that State and non-State actors should take to fully implement the Guiding Principles with respect to corporate political engagement, in order to ensure greater coherence between businesses’ commitments to respect human rights and their political and lobbying activities, which are not always in alignment.

Key discussion questions
• How should “corporate capture” and its connection with human rights be defined? What distinguishes legitimate corporate political engagement from undue political influence by businesses which carries human rights risks?
• Are there specific examples of undue corporate influence that has led to government decision-making that negatively impacts human rights? What solutions or measures have been taken to encourage responsible and transparent corporate engagement in global and national policy making?
• What are good practices that businesses can implement to avoid undue political influence or engaging in political activities that negatively impact human rights?
• What are key practical considerations for businesses when creating human rights due diligence processes that will take into account the impacts of their political activities? What does/might this look like in practice, including for global political engagement (e.g., corporate engagement with multilateral institutions or international treaty processes)?

Background reading
• Working Group report: Guiding Principles on Business And Human Rights at 10: Taking stock of the first decade, available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/UNGPs10/Stocktaking-reader-friendly.pdf
• Working Group report: Connecting the business and human rights and the anti-corruption agendas, available at https://undocs.org/A/HRC/44/43
• Working Group information note: A Roadmap for Responsible Recovery in Times of Crisis, available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/WG/Responsible-recovery-information-note.pdf

Session organized by OHCHR Business and Human Rights Unit

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE. 

Brief description of the session:
The UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were conceived as a tool for changing realities on the ground, guiding public policy and corporate actions towards more sustainable business models ---with human rights at the core. States, business enterprises and others actors, including the UN, are playing a critical role in translating the UNGP framework into the policies and practices at country and regional levels.
Over the last decade, various parts of the UN have worked through multiple types of engagement and projects to advance corporate accountability for human rights at the country and regional levels. Together with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, other UN entities, such as the ILO, UNDP, or UNICEF, as well as the OECD, have joined forces and expanded their work in this area. Specific programmes, such as the joint project Responsible Business Conduct in Latin America and the Caribbean (RBCLAC) or Business and Human Rights-Asia have helped scale up the efforts at the regional level.

Over the last decade, various parts of the UN have worked through multiple types of engagement and projects to advance corporate accountability for human rights at the country and regional levels. Together with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, other UN entities, such as the ILO, UNDP, or UNICEF, as well as the OECD, have joined forces and expanded their work in this area. Specific programmes, such as the joint project Responsible Business Conduct in Latin America and the Caribbean (RBCLAC) or Business and Human Rights-Asia have helped scale up the efforts at the regional level.

Looking back at the past decade, we see that the UNGPs have led to significant progress by providing a common framework for all stakeholders in managing business-related human rights risks and impacts. Yet, more efforts are needed for greater uptake and coherent implementation with respect to ensuring better protection and prevention of adverse human rights impacts. As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the UNGPs, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights articulated a “Roadmap for the Next Decade” calling to raise ambition and increase the pace of implementation, to improve coherence and create greater impact. The Roadmap for the Next Decade sets out forward-looking recommendations, key goals and actions and supporting actions to be taken by States and businesses as well as other key stakeholders for the road ahead.

This session offers an opportunity to look at the role the UN in realizing UNGPs implementation and ensuring that tangible results are achieved in the coming years, for affected individuals and communities, and for contributing to a socially sustainable globalization.

Objectives of the session:

• Reflect on the progress achieved after a decade of UNGP implementation based on the experience of UN practitioners (what has worked and why)?
• Assess the unique role that the UN and other international actors can play to advance the business and human rights agenda on the ground.
• Share views on actions needed to scale up progress and greater impact at country and regional levels.

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

Overall objective
This session will examine what the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) expect from business with regard to meaningful action to prevent and address racism and how the business and human rights agenda can be leveraged to confront racism.

Brief description of the session
As the UNGPs turned 10 in June 2021, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights mandated by the Human Rights Council to promote dissemination and implementation of the UNGPs worldwide, took stock of the first decade of implementation. The stocktaking highlighted that the UNGPs have led to significant progress by providing a common framework for all stakeholders in managing business-related human rights risks and impacts. Yet, considerable challenges remain when it comes to coherent implementation. Among major long-standing human rights challenges that continue to exist in all societies, racism, intolerance and discrimination have been amplified further during the COVID-19 crisis. As some countries saw public and media attention to the challenge of racial discrimination in the wake of high-profile cases of abuse, many companies and business leaders stood up publicly in support of anti-racism. These are welcome moves, but to tackle racism more effectively in all societies, much more is needed.

The failure to address racism seriously undermines both the promise of business and human rights generally - that is to provide a framework to prevent and remedy abuses by businesses of internationally recognized human rights - and specifically the recognized need to address intersectional harms experienced by individuals, especially women and people with non-binary identities, from all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
The UNGPs require companies to assess the risk that they cause, contribute to, or are directly linked to, human rights abuse, including potential or actual involvement with racial discrimination by their products, services or operations, throughout their business relationships. This means, for example, that for companies it is not enough to commit to equality and diversity initiatives, if these are not accompanied by a foundational shift in their human rights due diligence operations and practices, which are able to acknowledge and address legacies of trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism. Similarly, while there are many corporate policy commitments to embrace diversity within the workforce, companies have been less forthcoming when making diversity and inclusion a reality on the ground.

Background
An under explored angle to date is the way in which mainstream business can be leveraged to a greater scale by having businesses paying attention to the issue as part of their responsibility to respect human rights under the UNGPs. The economic prosperity of modern economies undeniably rests upon the foundations of colonialism, and the transatlantic slave trade and exploitation of generations of enslaved people of African descent, which remains to be fully recognized and addressed. However, the persistence of racial discrimination by, and benefiting businesses continues to manifest in many ways. For example, workers of colour are those at highest risk of exploitation in labour markets, including within industries in the digital economy. Likewise, large-scale development projects, the operations of many companies within the extractives industries, and the development of real estate investment projects often have racially discriminatory impacts on the communities that experience abuse because of such projects. Women of colour are in an even more precarious position, with racism often compounded by other intersecting forms of discrimination, such as sexism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia.

The climate crisis also has a disproportionate impact on the rights of people of African descent, indigenous peoples and other communities of colour, which is tied to historical and structural racism. In many parts of the world, environmental racism poses a serious and disproportionate threat to the enjoyment of human rights of people of African descent, including the right to a safe, clean and healthy environment. At the same time, those seeking to defend their human rights in relation to climate change and the right to a safe, clean and healthy environment face unacceptable levels of violence, threats and intimidation.

Session organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE. 

Brief description of the session
This panel discussion session of the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights will focus on responsible business conduct in the defence sector. Panelists will explore how States and defence companies currently address human rights risks associated with defence sector products, examine the scope for enhanced ESG and sustainability efforts in the defence sector, and discuss how States and businesses can apply the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“the Guiding Principles”) going forward to prevent, mitigate, and remedy business-related human rights abuses that may be connected to the defence sector.

Background
As the UN Charter notes, all nations have a legitimate right to self-defence in the face of attack; it is the sovereign right and responsibility of governments to provide security, in conformity with the rule of law. As such, producers of defence equipment play an important role in providing states with the necessary technology to execute their defence-related duties. At the same time, the inherently lethal nature of the equipment produced by the defense sector carries intrinsic risk of serious human rights abuses, particularly when exported into proven contexts of human rights abuse. This panel discussion will examine how the Guiding Principles can be used as a framework to reconcile these two dynamics in a way that enables the responsible export of defence sector products and addresses the heightened risk of human rights abuses connected to those products.

The primary aim of this session is to identify actionable steps that States and defence sector businesses can take to mitigate, prevent, and remedy human rights abuses.

Background reading
Working Group report: Guiding Principles on Business And Human Rights at 10: Taking stock of the first decade, available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/UNGPs10/Stocktaking-reader-friendly.pdf
Working Group report: Business, human rights and conflict-affected regions: towards heightened action, available at https://undocs.org/en/A/75/212

A RECORDING OF THIS SESSION IS AVAILABLE HERE.