2018 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

Interpretation is provided in English and French.


Organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Brief description of the session: 

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. Building on the sessions on government action on the Forum’s first day, the region focused discussions aim to take a closer look at how to overcome key business-related human rights challenges faced in African countries and lessons learned from emerging government, business and civil society action.

Objective of the session: 

Facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue around lessons learned and the way forward, including on how to scale up emerging good practice and strengthen a race to the top among governments and business in the region.

Format of the session:

The proposed session will be done in a talk show format with the participants having the opportunity to raise questions amongst each other as in a public dialogue. The session is chaired by the Member of the UN Working Group, Githu Muigai

Preliminary agenda: 

• Introduction by The UN Working Group member, Githu Muigai
• Kickoff remarks:
  • Civil society coalition reflections on how to overcome key business-related human rights challenges in the region and what emerging practices to build on
  • Business perspectives on how to drive a race to the top in the region
  • Government statements on lessons learned and commitments for going forward
• Roundtable discussion

Interpretation is provided into English, French and Spanish
​Watch live ​​​https://unog.webex.com/unog/j.php?MTID=mabe7bc8e92ec6e11557311bcf357f4b9

Organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Brief description of the session: 
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. Building on the sessions on government action on the Forum’s first day, the “Western European and others”- focused discussions aim to take a closer look at policy innovations and emerging practices on which progress can be built. The session will involve presentations by governments that are moving ahead with regulatory and policy innovations.

Objectives of the session: 

• Share lessons learned from recent government efforts with potential to drive greater policy coherence and reach scale in business implementation of the corporate responsibility to respect human right
• Facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue around lessons learned and way forward, including on how to strengthen a race to the top among Western countries.

Format of the session:

• Introduction by the UN Working Group on Business & Human Rights
• Snapshot presentations on innovations and lessons learned: inter-governmental and government perspectives
• Open stakeholder discussion on the way forward

Interpretation is provided in English and Russian.

Organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Brief description of the session: 

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. Building on the sessions on government action on the Forum’s first day, the region focused discussions aim to take a closer look at how to overcome key business-related human rights challenges faced in Eastern European countries and lessons learned from emerging government, business and civil society action.

Objectives of the session: 

- Facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue around lessons learned and the way forward, including on how to scale up emerging good practice
- Strengthen a race to the top among governments and business in the region

Format of the session:

The proposed session will be done in a talk show format with the participants having the opportunity to raise questions amongst each other as in a public dialogue. The session is chaired by the Member of the UN Working Group, Elzbieta Karksa

Preliminary agenda: 

• Introduction by Elzbieta Karska
• Kickoff remarks:
  • Civil society coalition reflections on how to overcome key business-related human rights challenges in the region and what emerging practices to build on
  • Business perspectives on how to drive a race to the top in the region
  • Government statements on lessons learned and commitments for going forward
• Roundtable discussion

Interpretation is provided into English/French/Spanish

Organized by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Brief description of the session: 
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. Building on the sessions on government action on the Forum’s first day, the region focused discussions aim to take a closer look at how to overcome key business-related human rights challenges faced in Latin American and Caribbean countries and lessons learned from emerging government, business and civil society action.

Objectives of the session: 
- Facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue around lessons learned and the way forward, including on how to scale up emerging good practice
- Strengthen a race to the top among governments and business in the region.

Format of the session:
The proposed session will be done in a talk show format with the participants having the opportunity to raise questions amongst each other as in a public dialogue. The session is chaired by the Chairperson of the UN Working Group, Dante Pesce

Preliminary agenda: 

• Introduction by Dante Pesce
• Kickoff remarks:
  • Civil society coalition reflections on how to overcome key business-related human rights challenges in the region and what emerging practices to build on
  • Business perspectives on how to drive a race to the top in the region
  • Human rights defender statement on his/her experience in working for the respect of human rights by business in the region
  • Government statements on lessons learned and commitments for going forward
• Roundtable discussion

Interpretation is provided in English and Chinese.

Session led by UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and UNDP

This Forum session is part of the Forum track on trends and challenges in promoting business respect for human rights in different regions of the world.
The aim is to facilitate peer learning and multi-stakeholder dialogue around lessons learned. Innovative ideas shall be showcased with a view to scale up emerging good practices and reinforce a race to the top among governments and businesses in the Asia region.

This interactive session will be divided in two parts:
After a brief scene setting from civil society and business representatives, Part I will present key examples of how Governments in the Region are promoting business respect for Human Rights. Representatives of the Governments of Thailand, India, Indonesia, Vietnam among others, will illustrate how they are setting expectations for companies to carry out human rights due diligence (HRDD), changing corporate laws to promote responsible business conduct, creating incentives through public procurement, and taking steps to ensure a bouquet of remedies is available to victims.
In Part II, several inspiring ideas on how to turn HRDD from paper to practice will be presented in TED-Style snapshot sessions. After interaction with the participants, mobile technology will be used to survey the opinion of those present. This will involve solutions considered most innovative, most impactful and worth replicating in other contexts. Initiatives most inspiring and innovative will be given additional dedicated space to illustrate their impact in the two Regional Forums on Business and Human Rights (for South Asia and Southeast Asia) planned for the first half of 2019.  

Program

• Opening/setting the scene (30 mins)
• Part I: Fostering Government Leadership to Set Expectations for Companies to Respect Human Rights (60 mins)
• Break (15 mins)
• Part II:  Pitch Deck: Innovative and Inspiring Solutions to take the UNGPs from Paper to Practice: Snapshot sessions (5 minutes each) followed by Qs and As (80 minutes) through mobile technology to survey their opinion on the innovative value, replicability and scalability of the initiatives 
  • Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact: FPIC Policies into action
  • Caux RT/ANA: Technology to monitor supply chains, Japan  
  • UN Global Compact Network Indonesia: HRDD in the Agri-Food Business Sector
  • Terre des Hommes: Multi stakeholder partnerships to end child labour
  • China Labor Watch: Access to Remedy for workers, China
  • Earth Rights International: NGOs and NHRIs monitoring HR abuses by outbound investments, SEA
  • University of Sussex: National employment injury insurance (EII) schemes in Bangladesh and Pakistan
  • FORUM ASIA: Good practices and possible collective actions to counter legal harassment of Human Rights Defenders