Happy to pass along notice of the scheduling of the 2025 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. This year the BHR Forum takes place on 24-26 November (in the U.S. Thanksgiving Day occurs on 27 November this year). The theme for this year is "Accelerating action on business and human rights amidst crises and transformations." The Concept Note explains: "The goal is for participants to leave the Forum with new perspectives on how to navigate these difficult times, creating hope for the future of business and human rights and renewed commitments for action." (Concept note: PDF | Word)
For those who can attend a marvelous venue for connecting with the many others who are engaged in work in the field of business and human Rights.
The Secretariat of the Forum received a very large number of submissions from a range of stakeholders. Please note that due to the current financial situation and related limited resources, this year’s Forum will feature a reduced number of agenda slots.
The Concept Note for 2025 follows.
Registration visathis link: Open
Concept Note
14th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights
24 - 26 November 2025
Accelerating action on business and human rights amidst crises and transformations
Overview
Since its first edition in 2012, the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights has brought together thousands of participants from governments, international organizations, business, civil society, trade unions, communities, lawyers, and academia from around the world. The 13th edition, in 2024, had over 4,000 participants. Centred on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) – the authoritative global framework for States and businesses in relation to preventing and addressing adverse impacts on human rights arising from business activities – the Forum provides a unique multi-stakeholder platform for discussing key trends and challenges in implementing and advancing the UNGPs.
Established by the UN Human Rights Council, the Forum is guided, chaired and organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, which sits within Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, and supported by a Secretariat based at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Focus of the 2025 Forum
The world is experiencing interlocking crises that are posing significant challenges to sustaining and accelerating commitments to protect and respect human rights in the context of business activities, and to provide effective remedy when harm occurs. Geopolitical tensions, conflicts, widening inequalities, rapid changes in technology, climate change, environmental degradation, and the increasing complexity of global value chains all contribute to an unpredictable and rapidly shifting global landscape. In view of these transformations, ensuring that States and businesses uphold their respective obligations and responsibility to protect and respect human rights requires resilience, adaptability, political will, and heightened commitment and actions. Existing positive business and human rights mechanisms should be leveraged and new innovative initiatives must be developed to address these growing risks and drive meaningful change for rights-holders. Against this backdrop, the 2025 Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights will explore how different stakeholders can accelerate and scale up the implementation of the UNGPs amidst these challenges, creating innovations and opportunities for positive transformation.
The Forum will provide a multi-stakeholder platform to assess the effectiveness of existing frameworks and explore strategies to enhance business and human rights commitments and actions in response to evolving global dynamics. Participants will critically reflect on progress, identify gaps, and discuss innovative solutions that can drive transformative change. The discussions will particularly focus on the role of States, businesses, civil society, international organizations and others in ensuring that actions consistent with business and human rights imperatives are a vital priority despite the current global polycrisis. The goal is for participants to leave the Forum with new perspectives on how to navigate these difficult times, creating hope for the future of business and human rights and renewed commitments for action.
The 2025 Forum will explore the application of the UNGPs, in particular the "smart mix" of voluntary and mandatory measures at the national and international levels, to accelerate business and human rights action among States and businesses and be innovative in a rapidly changing world. Specific sessions will examine these varied challenges and opportunities in several key issues-areas including:
· State action in a changing world;
· Access to justice and to remedy in complex environments;
· Human rights due diligence (HRDD), especially in crisis and conflict situations;
· Technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and human rights;
· Labour migration and human rights, especially in cross-border contexts;
· Climate change, environmental justice, and corporate responsibility;
· Just energy transition;
· Indigenous Peoples' rights;
· Stakeholder engagement;
· Business commitments to gender equality, diversity and inclusion;
· Role of youth in translating business and human rights commitments to action.
Considering the above, some of the key questions to be considered at the Forum include:
· What are the most pressing global challenges that threaten the implementation of business and human rights commitments?
· How can national, regional, and international policy responses ensure that human rights remain central to business operations in a rapidly changing environment?
· What are the lessons learned from implementation of the UNGPs in different country and regional contexts, including existing initiatives to ensure a smart mix of measures? How can these be adapted to meet current challenges?
· How can businesses effectively integrate human rights considerations into their decision-making processes while navigating geopolitical and economic uncertainties?
· What innovative partnerships and multi-stakeholder approaches can enhance business and human rights commitments in complex environments?
The Forum will also provide an opportunity to address other issues in focus that encompass systemic and emerging issues confronting the business and human rights agenda.
A tentative Forum programme is expected in July 2025.
The full agenda will be posted on the Forum web page by the end of September 2025.
Participating in the Forum
The Working Group makes an open call for session proposals and side events, as part of its inclusive approach for the Forum. However, as renovations to the United Nations buildings in Geneva are ongoing, it is unclear at this stage as to how many sessions will be possible to accommodate and whether the format will be in-person only or hybrid.
Proposals for sessions are very welcome. These must include:
· A title;
· An outline of the proposed topic and its focus and key objectives – limited to 250 words;
· Proposed speakers, with a maximum of 4 speakers plus a moderator. Proposed speakers must reflect diversity of gender, region and stakeholder background (e.g, State, business, civil society organisation). The Working Group will not accept proposals with panels that are not well balanced;
· Emphasis will be given to identifying skilled moderators/facilitator with expertise in the topics on the Forum agenda;
· Please indicate name, organization, and envisaged contribution. Only one proposal per organization will be considered (Joint proposals are accepted but only a maximum of two joint proposals for any one organisation);
· For this edition of the Forum, we will also consider proposals for Snapshot sessions (30 minutes) and for Informal Dialogues.
Please be aware of the following:
· Given the growth in the number of submissions since 2012 and the limited capacity due to ongoing building renovations, it will not be possible to accommodate all proposals. In some instances, two or more proposals may be merged, and formats of sessions may be modified by the Working Group;
· The Working Group is a co-organiser of all sessions. Speakers will be subject of approval by the Working Group and diversity in stakeholder, gender and region will be mandatory. Organizations whose proposals are selected should not confirm speakers until the agreement by the Working Group of the speaker panel is obtained.
As in previous editions, the Forum does not have externally organized side event. Those wishing to organize side events in Geneva around the dates of the Forum should explore options outside of the UN premises and to keep the Forum organizers informed via ohchr-forumbhr@un.org. We kindly ask those organizing side events to refrain from scheduling them during the Forum’s official hours (9 am to 6pm). Only side events that are organized outside of the official hours of the forum can be advertised on the official forum website.
All proposals must be submitted to the Forum organisers by 11 April 2025.
Form for call for session proposals: https://forms.office.com/e/WemiKQPnzY
These proposals will be considered by the Working Group at their meeting in the first week of May 2025. Successful proposals will be informed in June-July 2025.
Information about the agenda, registration process and virtual participation will be posted on the Forum’s dedicated webpage in due course. Stay also posted on updates by following us on LinkedIn: UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
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