The 11th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights will take place on 28-30 November 2022. Once a lively and free-wheeling space where representatives from all stakeholder communities could interact in sometimes messy but always effective ways, the Forum has now acquired a more stately and formal presence. Perhaps a more formal and sedate suits post-COVID Forums. Middle aged events find it difficult to sustain the joie de vivre and experimentalism of youth.
In any case it provides, as the organizers now tell us, a more efficient space where issues and ideas of importance to them may be more efficiently foregrounded by those selected for that purpose.
Over three days, from 28 to 30 November 2022, under the overall theme of “Rights holders at the centre: Strengthening accountability to advance business respect for people and planet in the next decade”, participants will take part in 25 sessions to discuss current business-related human rights issues to take stock of efforts at securing accountability and access to remedy, in order to focus on how the implementation of the UNGPs can be accelerated from a rights holder perspective.
We all look forward to this event. What follows is the 11th Forum Concept Note and the Program, and may be found on the Forum website.
Concept Note
11th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights
28 - 30 November 2022
Rights holders at the centre: Strengthening accountability to advance business respect for people and
planet in the next decade
Overview
Since its creation in 2011, the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights has brought together
thousands of participants from governments, international organizations, business, trade unions, civil
society, communities, lawyers, and academia from around the world. Centred on the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) – the global framework for States and businesses to
prevent and address the impacts of business-related activities on human rights – the Forum has provided
a unique multi-stakeholder platform for discussing trends and challenges in implementing the UNGPs
and realizing a more sustainable global economy. 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 economic actors and respect for people and the planet is more
pressing than ever. Set against this backdrop, and with the UNGPs as the central reference point for
efforts toward bridging these gaps, the 11th annual Forum takes stock of efforts at securing
accountability and access to remedy, in order to focus on how the implementation of the UNGPs can
be accelerated from a rights holder perspective.
Due to the ongoing worldwide challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Forum will most likely
take place in a hybrid format, virtually and in person at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, subject to
public health regulations.
Established by the UN Human Rights Council, the Forum is guided and chaired by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. It is organized by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Focus of the 2022 Forum: Rights holders at the centre
The unanimous endorsement of the UNGPs in 2011 represented a major step forward in efforts to
prevent and address business-related human rights abuse. The Guiding Principles provide a common
platform for action as the global authoritative framework for State duties and business responsibilities
to achieve "tangible results for affected individuals and communities, and thereby also contributing to
a socially sustainable globalization".
By emphasizing that access to effective judicial mechanisms is “at the core of ensuring access to
remedy,” with non-judicial mechanisms as an essential complement, the UNGPs have positioned rights
holders and accountability as central elements of the State duty to protect and the business
responsibility to respect human rights.
June 2021 marked the tenth anniversary of the unanimous endorsement by the Human Rights Council
of the UNGPs. This milestone provided an opportunity to look back at the progress and challenges to
date and has fuelled a renewed push for scaled-up global implementation by States and businesses in
the decade ahead. This review came at a time of converging crises – the ongoing human and financial
costs of COVID-19, climate and environment emergency, growing inequality, systemic gender and racial
discrimination, shrinking civic space, and the human consequences of technological developments.
Against this backdrop, the Working Group took stock of the first ten years of implementation of the
Guiding Principles and developed a roadmap for the next decade which was launched in November
2021. The roadmap set out benchmarks and action areas for States, businesses and other stakeholders
to address existing gaps and seize current opportunities identified by the UNGPs 10+ stocktaking.
The stocktaking report clearly explains the extent to which, many – if not most – of the barriers for rights
holders with respect to their ability to access both judicial and non-judicial mechanisms identified in the
UNGPs still remain. This includes for basic issues such as access to information. These challenges are
also clearly identified by the Accountability and Remedy Project (“ARP”) launched by OHCHR in 2014.1
Addressing these challenges should be considered by States, businesses and all stakeholders as an
urgent priority and key component for tackling inequalities and realizing a sustainable future for all.
In relation to accountability for harm caused by irresponsible business practices, the UNGPs 10+
roadmap identifies the key action areas, priority goals and targets for increasing the pace in realizing
better remediation of adverse impacts, by putting rights holders at the centre of any meaningful
accountability initiative. The 2017 report of the Working Group to the UN General Assembly (A/71/162)
unpacked the concept of access to effective remedies under the UNGPs. It clarified the interrelationship
between the right to effective remedy, access to effective remedy, access to justice, and corporate
accountability. It examined the issue of effective remedies from the perspective of rights holders and
proposed that remedial mechanisms should be responsive to their diverse experiences and
expectations.2
1 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Business/Pages/OHCHRaccountabilityand
remedyproject.aspx
2 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Business/Pages/AccessToRemedy.aspx
In view of this, the 11th Forum will provide a key global platform for stakeholder dialogue on how to
enhance accountability and remedy mechanisms for business-related human rights abuses, accelerate
the pace of implementation by States and businesses, and incentivize the participation of other actors,
in alignment with the recommendations from the UNGPs 10+ roadmap. It will also catalyse much needed
conversation around reparations, putting people and the planet at the heart of solutions.
The 11th Forum provides a timely opportunity to look at implementing the Guiding Principles in the
second decade of business and human rights. The focus will be on taking stock of efforts at securing
accountability and access to remedy, to focus on how the implementation of the UNGPs can be
accelerated from a rights holder perspective.
A broad participation of governments, businesses, civil society, trade unions, indigenous peoples, human
rights defenders, academics, national human rights institutions, international organizations, and others
is expected. Forum discussions will allow participants to share their perspectives on what has and has
not worked, in relation to securing accountability and access to remedy for rights holders impacted by
business-related human rights abuses. They will also consider what should come next by building on the
coherence and implementation gaps and recommendations identified in the UNGPs 10+ assessment and
roadmap.
In addition to the plenary sessions and regional dialogues on the key trends, challenges, and
opportunities for the implementation of the UNGPs, Forum discussions will consider what effective
avenues exist to ensure accountability through a rights holder-centred approach. This includes ensuring
that a “smart mix” of legal and policy measures to promote responsible business, including effective
mandatory human rights due diligence, are designed to deliver justice when harm occurs; understanding
the need to integrate human rights considerations in all policy areas that shape economic activity; and
developing better and more systematic tracking of State and business performance to evaluate efforts
to improving access to remedy for rights-holders affected by business-related harm. The discussions will
also consider ways in which a legally binding instrument can potentially help to secure accountability
and remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuses.
Access to effective remedy, remediation and reparations will, moreover, be discussed as a means to
address the root causes of marginalization and discrimination, as well as the growing threats faced by
groups and individuals at heightened risk of corporate abuse, such as human rights defenders speaking
up against business-related harm to people and the planet, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities,
and persons with different sexual orientation or gender identity.
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