11th UN Forum on business and human rights

(Version française ci-jointe)

Interpretation available in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Japanese.

For remote participants: interpretation for this session is available only via zoom for registered participants.

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

Brief description of the session:
To mark the 10th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights on 10th June 2021, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights coordinated a series of efforts to take stock of the progress made in the first decade of implementation. Following this stocktaking effort, the Working Group prepared the “UNGPs at 10+: A Roadmap for the Next Decade of Business and Human Rights” (‘Roadmap’), which was presented at the 10th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. This session will discuss the progress made so far in tackling the action areas identified in the Roadmap.
The discussions in this high level session will draw upon the experience of the Working Group in engaging with various stakeholders during their consultations, including in the 2022 African Business and Human Rights Forum and the 2022 UN South Asia Forum on Business and Human Rights. Likewise, insights obtained from the Working Group through various submissions from States, international organisations, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders, provided in response to its various thematic calls for input, will also be engaged.

Key objectives of the session:

• Discuss progress made so far in tackling the action areas identified in the Roadmap;
• Discuss advances and challenges to progress on the Roadmap action areas, and the reasons for these;
• Foster dialogue about efforts that have been undertaken and those not acted upon; and
• Understand from some high-level speakers about some of the actions being taken.

Key discussion questions:

• What is the level of integration of the UNGPs in national strategies related to sustainable development in regions?
• What are the possible challenges and opportunities for relevant stakeholders to deliver on the priority areas?
• How can states, civil society and businesses be assisted  in their efforts to contribute to deliver on the priority areas?

Background to the discussion
The Working Group launched a project in July 2020 to take stock of the implementation of the UNGPs to date, as it marked its 10 anniversary in June 2021, and chart a course for action in the decade ahead (“UNGPs 10+” or “next decade BHR” project). In June 2021, the Working Group presented its findings to the HRC in June 2021 (A/HRC/47/39). The stocktaking report 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 action and implementation by States and businesses. In other words, much work remains with respect to ensuring better protection and prevention of adverse human rights impacts, with particular attention to the most marginalised and discriminated against, and to ensuring access to remedy for harms that occur.
The Roadmap calls for a stronger embedding of the UNGPs in State and business efforts to address global challenges. Further, it places business respect for human rights at the heart of strategies to realise sustainable development and a just transition to a green economy that respects human rights. The Roadmap identifies a number of cross-cutting action areas and priority goals, such as meaningful stakeholder engagement that should be at the heart of any State’s legal and policy measures to foster responsible business and businesses’ human rights due diligence and grievance management. The Roadmap also calls on the need for both more systematic tracking of State performance and for better corporate human rights performance data, including better disclosure, alignment, and consistency with human rights standards across benchmarks, scaling the availability of data, and focusing on actual performance and outcomes for people.
The Roadmap builds upon the stocktaking effort undertaken by the Working Group by providing forward-looking recommendations for the next decade. It identifies eight action areas for future UNGPs integration and implementation, as well as priority goals for each area that provide guidance to the various stakeholders on how to act towards an effective and meaningful realisation of the UNGPs. The priority goals identified include enhancing collective action to tackle systemic challenges that underlie the various human rights risks linked to business activities, ensuring more systematic monitoring of progress in implementing the UNGPs, and enhancing capacity building and coordination to support faster and wider UNGPs uptake and implementation.