2018 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

Session organized by IHRB, Ergon and Impactt

 
Brief description of the session:
The aim of the session is to provide a structured discussion, with resource people to support / lead, on the impact of sports in general – including but not restricted to Mega Sporting Events – on human rights. The structure of the event will be through the lens of defined rightsholders and impacts on their enjoyment of human rights. The structure of the session is interactive with only short opening presentations and then discussion groups
Key rightsholders for consideration during the session will include: players and athletes, fans, journalists, workers, community members. Cross cutting issues will include treatment of vulnerable people and children, impact on political and civil rights, LGBTQI+ rights, collaboration and stakeholder engagement.

Format of the session:

• Outline of key issues for consideration, some thoughts on how the conversation at tables might be organised – John Morrison.  (10 mins)
• Group discussions – each person picks 2 out of 4 (2 x 30 mins - 60 mins total)

The room will split into 4 groups focusing on: fans and communities; players and athletes; journalists and human rights defenders; direct and indirect workers.
Each group will have at least two resource people who will give a very brief (5-minute total maximum) outline of what they see the key issues are from their perspective for the group in question.
The group will then either split into smaller groups or stay as one (depending on the numbers) to discuss the following questions: what rights can be impacted and how? How can due diligence be carried out in the sports sector to identify impacts on rightsholders? What actions can be taken to reduce negative impacts and provide remedy?  Using stickie notes, the groups will be asked to map their impacts against potential responsive actions and stick them on the wall when the conversation is concluding.

• Round up (Steve Gibbons and Rosey Hurst) (10 mins)
• Call out of quick interesting points from the discussions based on identified people

Organized by the B Team, Center for Economic and Social Rights, Christian Aid, Financial Transparency Coalition and Oxfam

Brief description of the session:
When working well, business tax contributions fund key programs crucial for gender equality and women’s rights, including education, health, and care services. In contrast, when businesses avoid tax, public services go under-funded and consumption taxes are often increased, both of which disproportionately burden women. This session will drill down on the connection between responsible corporate tax practice and the corporate responsibility to respect human rights set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It will engage discussants from the audience in a multi-stakeholder dialogue on methods for driving responsible corporate tax practice that avoids adverse impacts on human rights.

Session objectives: 
This session will draw out practice-based recommendations on how the UN Guiding Principles’ three pillars of “Protect, Respect and Remedy” can be leveraged by governments, companies and communities to ensure responsible tax practice. In order to enable a concrete and solution-oriented discussion the session will have a special focus on connecting responsible tax practice and women’s rights, and in particular how to rectify the often-hidden women’s rights risks posed by certain corporate tax practices. It will also focus on how companies are beginning to understand how paying tax in a transparent and responsible way is an important way in which they can positively contribute to the communities in which they operate.
 
Key discussion questions:
 o What is the relationship between tax policy and human rights, in particular women’s rights?
o What are the duties and responsibilities of governments under the UN Guiding Principles’ Pillar I (State duty to protect) as related to business taxation? What are some examples of good state practice to enable corporate human rights due diligence on tax matters?
o How can Pillar II of the Guiding Principles (corporate responsibility to respect) be leveraged to restore more responsible business taxation in practice? What are examples of good corporate tax behavior in line with the corporate responsibility to respect human rights?
o What is the role of other stakeholders (e.g. investors, civil society organizations) in encouraging companies to view responsible tax practice as a way to meet their corporate responsibility to respect human rights – and that avoiding adverse impacts from irresponsible tax avoidance in fact would be a significant positive contribution to sustainable development in the societies in which they operate?
o What role does political influencing play, and to what degree does business’ tax lobbying affect both the state duty to protect and business’s responsibility to respect women’s rights?
o In light of Pillar III of the Guiding Principles (access to remedy for victims), what would effective remedy for corporate tax abuse look like, in practice?

Format of the session:
After an initial introduction by the moderator, this session will kick off with the presentation of a brief illustrative case of the risks irresponsible corporate tax practices pose to women’s rights. Practitioners from business, civil society, community, and government will then engage in a round-table discussion on how the UN Guiding Principles could be leveraged to address this type of situation.

Background to the discussion:
There is growing consensus amongst governments, the human rights protection system and civil society that taxation—in particular corporate tax policy—is a vital tool for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. Ample evidence also suggests that women and girls are hurt the most when the ability of the ability of states to realize such rights is hampered by tax losses. Likewise, more and more companies are recognizing that paying their fair share of tax is a fundamental business responsibility.[1] Business groups are also recognising the importance of good governance in the area of tax incentives in the global South,[2] and some are adopting a set of Responsible Tax Principles.[3] When working well, business tax contributions fund key programs crucial for gender equality and women’s rights, including education, health, and care services. In contrast, when businesses avoid tax, public services go under-funded and consumption taxes are often increased, both of which disproportionately burden women.
In light of the significant human rights risks posed by irresponsible corporate tax practice, how can the UN business and human rights framework be leveraged to ensure responsible corporate tax policy and practice? “There is a need,” according to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, “to better delineate roles, responsibilities and appropriate accountability systems for both States and business enterprises with regard to specific issues, such as … tax avoidance.”[4] The State duty to protect human rights in its corporate tax policies, the business responsibility to respect human rights and carry out due diligence in their tax practices, and the need for effective remedy for tax abuse are all relevant, yet still emerging dimensions of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

[1] KPMG, 2017. ‘Responsible Tax and the Developing World: Is tax a fundamental human right?' at https://responsibletax.kpmg.com/page/responsible-tax-and-the-developing-world-is-tax-a-fundamental-human-right-
[2] ActionAid, CBI, Christian Aid and Oxfam, 2018. ‘Tax Incentives in the Global South: a business and civil society brief’ at https://www.christianaid.org.uk/resources/about-us/tax-incentives-global-south-business-and-civil-society-brief
[3] The B-Team, “A New Bar for Responsible Tax: The B Team Responsible Tax Principles”
[4] A/HRC/29/28; See also John Ruggie, 2017: “Neither the income inequality nor the base erosion and profit shifting associated with the current structure of corporate globalization are socially sustainable” at https://www.ihrb.org/other/supply-chains/making-economic-globalisation-work-for-all-speech-by-prof.-john-ruggie

Interpretation is provided into Spanish

Organized by OHCHR

Brief description of the session:
 This session will explore the responsibilities of businesses with respect to climate change, mitigation and adaptation. Businesses must be accountable for their climate impacts, participate responsibly in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts with full respect for human rights, and exercise human rights due diligence in the course of their activities. States must also ensure that their own business activities, including activities conducted in partnership with the private sector, contribute to mitigating climate change while respecting human rights, and ensuring effective remedies for climate and human rights harms. Businesses and governments should go beyond simply avoiding climate harms and actively work to promote development that benefits both people and planet.

Session objectives:
 Raise awareness of business responsibilities related to human rights and climate change.
 Identify good practices and concrete solutions to human rights challenges faced by businesses in the context of climate change.

Key discussion questions: 
 1. What is the responsibility of the private sector for climate change?
2. What does a rights-based approach to climate action look like for companies? What responsibilities does the private sector have to limit their carbon footprint (e.g. human right due diligence)?  
3. How can companies be held accountable for climate-related human rights harms?

Background to the discussion:
 Climate change is a key challenge facing the global community, and one that impacts, directly and indirectly, an array of internationally guaranteed human rights. Private actors, including businesses, contribute significantly to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, and thus contribute to the impacts of climate change on human rights. At the same time, international agreements, including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for Financing for Development, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change recognize that private actors must play a significant role in climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts and in ensuring development that is truly sustainable and in line with the vision elaborated in the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development.

Today, global attention is increasingly trained on the impact that businesses have on the enjoyment of human rights around the world, and businesses are increasingly aware of human rights as both a risk factor and as a moral and legal imperative. Despite strong understanding of the links between climate change and human rights, climate change and business, and business and human rights, there is a lack of action to ensure business accountability for climate change.

Interpretation is provided in English, French and Spanish

Session organized by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and Article One.

Brief description of the session:
Artificial intelligence (AI) will transform how we live, interact, work, do business, and govern. The human rights benefits of these disruptions could be significant, such as improved health diagnostics, enhanced education systems, better fraud prevention, and self-driving vehicles that improve road safety.
However, evidence is mounting about potential adverse human rights impacts too. This includes new forms of discrimination arising from algorithmic bias, increased potential of surveillance using facial recognition tools, and new risks to child rights as the volume of data collected about children increases substantially.
These diverse risks and opportunities are united by three key features: the complexity of the technologies being deployed; the speed with which impacts may take hold; and the considerable uncertainty about how AI will evolve.

Session objectives:
Share the process and findings from human rights impact assessments of AI, increase awareness of how AI can enhance due diligence, and stimulate new thinking about human rights due diligence methods capable of addressing an uncertain future.

Key discussion questions:

• Can we build tools and methods equipped to address the complexity, speed, and uncertainty of AI?
• What due diligence should be undertaken across the AI value chain, including during the use phase?
• What is the respective role of technology and non-technology companies?
• How can human rights due diligence be incorporated into product design?
• How can AI be used to improve human rights due diligence?

Format 
This roundtable discussion will take the form of a participatory dialogue (no speeches) about emerging practices, challenges, and solutions for human rights due diligence in the context of AI.

Interpretation is provided in English, French and Spanish

Organized by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

Brief description of the session:
Shifting to renewable energy is a fundamental part of the transition towards green economy. The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the SDGs both underline the necessity of a transition toward a sustainable, zero-carbon future for all as a human rights imperative. If undertaken responsibly, this transition has the potential to contribute to peacebuilding and a rights-respecting energy system. However, if managed without human rights in mind, it carries risks harming lives and livelihoods, as well as causing financial and legal costs for companies and investors. In order for it to be successful this transition has to be a Just Transition, leaving no one behind and maximizing climate protection as well as minimizing the risks and hardships for workers and communities.
This session focuses on how companies can ensure their climate actions respect human rights and benefit from the transformative potential of the transition to a green economy. It will unpack the concept of a green economy, explore the concept of a just transition away from fossil fuels in a way that respects the rights of workers and communities, and address how we can support a model of renewable energy that contributes to peacebuilding, provides decent jobs throughout its supply chain, and respects the rights of indigenous communities.

Session Objectives:

•  Provide participants with space to discuss what a green economy and a just transition entail in the context of companies’ responsibility to respect human rights
• Share with participants ways in which rights-based climate action can be a positive force for peacebuilding
• Explore factors that contribute to best practice examples of just transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy

Format of the session:

• Recap of outcomes of previous session "What related human rights responsibilities apply to businesses with respect to climate change?" and introduction of session (15 mins)
• World Café Round 1 (tables 1 and 2) in key question "cafes" (25 mins)
• Rotation and World Café 2 Round 2 (tables 3 and 4) in key question "cafes" (25 mins)
•  Report back from cafes to plenary (15 mins)

Key questions for discussions in World Cafes1 
World Cafe Table 1:
Guiding question: How can a rights-based approach to climate action contribute to peacebuilding?
Facilitator: Hannah Peters, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Resource person: Justine Taylor, Quaker United Nations Office
World Cafe Table 2:
Guiding question: What do we mean by a green economy? How does our current economic model contribute to climate change and how can we address this in a rights-based way?
Facilitator: Eniko Horvath, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
Resource Person: Elena Espinoza, Principles for Responsible Investment
World Cafe Table 3: 
Guiding question: What do we mean by a just transition to a low-carbon economy? How can a radical reduction of fossil fuels be managed in a just way?
 Facilitator: Nabylah Abo Dehman, Principles for Responsible Investment
 Resource Person: Philip Gass, International Institute for Sustainable Development
World Cafe Table 4:
Guiding question: How can renewable energy companies ensure their operations respect human rights? What role do investors and companies buying renewable energy have?
Facilitator: Isobel Edwards, Researcher
Resource Person: Melissa Ortiz Massó, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

Bacground to the discussion:
Climate change is a key challenge facing the global community, and one that impacts, directly and indirectly, an array of internationally guaranteed human rights. Private actors, including businesses, contribute significantly to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, and thus contribute to the impacts of climate change on human rights. At the same time, international agreements, including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for Financing for Development, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change recognize that private actors must play a significant role in climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts and in ensuring development that is truly sustainable and in line with the vision elaborated in the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development.
 Today, global attention is increasingly trained on the impact that businesses have on the enjoyment of human rights around the world, and businesses are increasingly aware of human rights as both a risk factor and as a moral and legal imperative. Despite strong understanding of the links between climate change and human rights, climate change and business, and business and human rights, there is a lack of action to implement proposed solutions to the challenges faced by the private sector in the context of climate change.


LIGHT REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED PRIOR TO THE EVENT

Interpretation is provided in English, French and Spanish

Organized by Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR)

Description:
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is marked by technological advance of unprecedented scale and velocity—carrying with it tremendous promise and risk. The automation of low-skilled jobs has the potential to bring positive human rights impacts, such as improved workplace safety. However, there is also a risk that the use of machines to increase productivity will result in mounting inequality through downward pressure on wages and loss of jobs. Workers in low-skilled positions, particularly in the apparel and electronics sectors in the Global South, face an increased risk of bearing the negative effects of automation. Women and migrant workers make up large portions of both of these workforces and as they tend to face greater discrimination in the workplace, may be more likely to be displaced by machines.

This session will explore emerging practices, challenges, and solutions for human rights due diligence in the context of automation. It will address the question of whether today’s human rights due diligence tools and methods are equipped to address the impacts of increased automation and explore good practices in human rights due diligence for companies. This session will strongly feature the perspectives and experiences of workers and will also touch on the importance of supportive policies and the role of government.

Objectives:

• Catalyze companies, NGOs, government representatives and other stakeholders to acknowledge the human rights impacts of increased automation and mechanization within global supply chains, using apparel and electronics manufacturing as examples and by amplifying the voices of potentially affected workers;
• Utilize existing frameworks to determine concrete steps key stakeholders and businesses should take to protect workers in their supply chains as their company or its suppliers increasingly integrate automation; and
• Explore the shared responsibility of companies, governments, and other key stakeholders to protect the rights of workers and impacted communities throughout the transition to the future of work.

Discussion Segments

• Segment 1 – framing comments on the human rights risks and potential positive benefits associated with automation and mechanization
• Segment 2 – worker perspectives
• Segment 3 – workshop to explore the application of existing frameworks in the context of human rights due diligence and the human rights risks to automation. Participants will not need to be familiar with the details of each framework, as each group will receive discussion questions, as well as the relevant points about the key concepts within each framework.
  • BSR Responsible Automation Framework
  • Just Transition Framework
  • Factory Closures and Retrenchment Best Practices
• Segment 4 – report back and discussion

Format
The session will take place in the form of a workshop and discussion with comments from key discussants representing workers, companies, civil society organisations, and governments. Key discussans will frame the discussion, provide unique perspectives, or lead discussion groups, depending on their role. Key discussants are intended to encourage interactivity and dialogue within workshop groups before the floor is opened up to discussion on the given framework. Moderators will also provide a brief summary of the discussion at the end of the session.

Organized by the German Institute for human Rights

Background to the discussion:
Blanket statements about the internet’s role in society now and over the last twenty-five years almost all come across as banal. Whether in the global north or south, in developed or developing countries, in urban or rural areas, the vast majority of human lives are touched in some way by the internet. Even if its political implications originally seemed limited to things like freedom of speech, it is now clear from the events of the last ten years that the internet can topple dictatorships and serve as the catalyst for sweeping social movements—and that it can also fuel violence against minorities and derail elections by propagating conspiracy theories.
Private companies play a central role in all this. The internet itself is just a technical standard; it is private companies—social networks, chat software, news sites, payment providers—that determine what can be done with it, how, and by whom. They are the entities that shape what we really refer to when we talk about the societal phenomenon that is the internet. And so this session asks: are these companies a threat to human rights? Are they tools of liberation or surveillance service providers for oppressors? Experts in the field will step away from their normal positions and institutional roles and have a debate about first principles in a way rarely allowed for by panel discussions.

Session format:
The debate will follow the British parliamentary debate format, similar to the format used at the Oxford Union and elsewhere. The session will begin with four speakers, two in support of and two in opposition to the question. There will then be a brief period in which the floor is open to audience interventions in response to the speeches. The debate will be concluded by a final speech from each side, followed by an audience vote on the question.
The result of the vote will be announced at a drinks and canapes reception following the debate.

How to participate:
No advance registration is required. Audience members will have the opportunity to make spontaneous interventions during the middle part of the debate.

Interpretation is provided into English , French and Spanish

This Forum session led by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights will address new ways to strengthen corporate respect for human rights in conflict and post-conflict contexts. It is part of the consultation process for a Working Group project that will lead to recommendations to governments and business enterprises in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in 2020.

The project will address implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in all stages of conflict, from prevention to post-conflict, including transitional justice. It will cover all three pillars of the Guiding Principles:
- the State duty to protect against business-related human rights abuse
- the corporate responsibility to respect human rights
- the need for access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuse

Organized by Hermes Equity Ownership Services and DLA Piper

Short description of the session: 
This session will focus on what has been working, what is not working and where efforts are falling short by illustrating key practical challenges to effective human rights risk management and uptake of HRDD. By providing insights from investors, advisors and industry groups we will highlight practice based challenges related to a lack of traceability/transparency in a supply chain and across a corporate groups, which make human rights risks, bribery and corruption, money laundering, labour exploitation and related risks to people difficult to identify, prevent or manage.
Distributed ledger technology and responsible sourcing solutions providers, Everledger and RCS Global will share their experience working with a range of companies to develop practical solutions to increase transparency and improve human rights due diligence and risk management throughout supply chains, for example, blockchain innovations used to improve data collected along minerals and metals supply chains, which complement existing top down third party audit approach with bottom up data push by data generated by miners and other stakeholders related to human rights and related risks.
With this practice-based foundation, the session will then seek to draw in stakeholders' perspectives from the audience to collect insights and the experience of civil society, academics, businesses and other stakeholder groups in managing these issues to identify was to scale up the implementation of human rights due diligence in supply chains and corporate groups using emerging technology solutions, whilst also ensure that reducing risks to people is embedded into the development of these emerging solutions.

Session objectives:
Emerging technology does not provide a complete solution to the challenge of scaling up HRDD but it is an important piece to the puzzle by plugging gaps in current approaches, complementing existing processes and identifying new ways to identify and manage risks. This session has two key objectives:

• Stimulate a discussion about the practical utility of emerging technology in supporting businesses reduce risks to people based on lessons from practice, as well as the key discussion questions that remain to be answered; and
• Collect views of civil society, academics, businesses and other stakeholders on how to enhance these efforts and plug remaining gaps to move HRDD beyond the largest, first mover businesses. These contributions will be published following the session with a view to scaling up HRDD through the use of emerging technology.

Key discussion questions: 

• What is not working and where efforts are falling short to implement effective human rights due diligence and risk management - insights from investors, advisors and industry groups on practice-based challenges related to a lack of traceability/transparency through supply chains and across corporate groups that mean human rights risks, ABC, AML, labour risks are difficult to identify and prevent or manage;
• How emerging technology solutions like distributed ledger technology can address some of these challenges; and
• What gaps remain in utilising technology to enhance HRDD and ensure businesses are able to reduce risks to people

Format of the session:
The moderator will guide an interactive discussion by opening with  short contributions on the practical challenges in implementing corporate HRDD and further ideas from speakers' own experience related to the use of technology and blockchain to address human rights risks in supply chains. The discussion will then focus on collecting contributions from civil society, academics, businesses and additional stakeholder groups on the topics and issues raised, which will be captured and released in the form of a summary after the panel and as contributions to a discussion paper that the session organizers are developing.

Background to the discussion: 
Practical challenges in managing complex global supply chains make corporate human rights due diligence efforts challenging, for instance, when a business comprises of a large groups of companies the DD that is increasingly expected is onerous (resources and cost) and often difficult to do effectively; methods of identifying risks down the supply chain have their shortcomings which mean risks aren't adequately identified and managed e.g. social/third party audits.
Recently, technological innovations have begun to transforming the way businesses increase transparency, manage risks and create value. Distributed Ledger Technology ("DLT"), commonly known as blockchain technology, is behind a wave of innovation that has the potential to revolutionise the way global businesses operate across a range of sectors.
This session will provide civil society, academic, business and government stakeholders to contribute stakeholders consultations looking at how emerging technologies can support supply chain human rights risk management to be included in a discussion paper being drafted that will seek to outline some of the potential opportunities and challenges presented by DLT to manage human rights and responsible business conduct risks in supply chains and increase transparency.