2018 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

http://webtv.un.org/search/panel-on-human-rights-in-mining-sector-forum-on-business-and-human-rights-2018/5971635102001/?term=&lan=english&cat=Forum%20on%20Business%20and%20Human%20Rights&page=2

Background to the discussion:
In January this year, Blackrock’s Chairman and CEO, Lawrence Fink, wrote an open letter to business leaders noting that, “to sustain… performance, you must understand the societal impact of your business”. Businesses have the potential to impact society in a range of ways, negatively and positively. Implementing the UN Guiding Principles allows companies to understand and address some of these potential impacts as they relate to human rights.  
Good governance and a strong board are critical to making respect for human rights part of how business gets done, thereby advancing a range of human rights in society, while protecting and creating value for the business. As Fink noted, “a company’s ability to manage environmental, social and governance matters demonstrates the leadership and good governance that is so essential to sustainable growth.” Board engagement is essential to improved performance over the long term, in providing rigorous oversight and accountability, in developing strategy and articulating purpose and responding to questions that are increasingly important to its investors, its consumers, and the communities in which it operates.

Key questions:

• What does the board see from a governance perspective and what expertise do they bring to the table?
• What do they discuss and how do they work with their CEO and management team in and out of the boardroom to manage risks to business and risks to people, reputation and long-term value to shareholders?
• What challenges and opportunities do they see for improving performance in their sector? 

Jane Nelson, Board member of  Newmont, will offer her perspective on why this agenda matters to Newmont and how she is working with Newmont’s leadership to drive it forward, including highlighting some of the challenges they face in practice. 
Human rights have long been a concern of socially responsible investors, but there are indications that human rights are moving onto the agenda of mainstream investors. Why does this matter to investors and what do they expect to see in terms of board oversight and governance?
Tom Butler, CEO of ICMM, a CEO -led association of 27 global mining companies, will talk to the commitments ICMM member companies make on board oversight and governance and share reflections from the industry on investor engagement on social issues and human rights.

Format: 
This session will provide an opportunity for an interactive and constructive discussion where participants are able to engage directly with senior leaders on key human rights topics, with a focus on driving performance through knowing, showing and acting. It will complement the opening plenary session on the role of CEOs/ Senior management on leading from the top (see below).
The format and structure will be guided by input from the speakers and the moderator. One suggestion is that each panel member has 5 minutes for an opening pitch to the floor and then the moderator leads a discussion across the panel on 2-3 substantive issues before opening to the floor. We can gather Q&A from the floor during the session and pull them together for the moderator to select and ask.

Brief description of the presentation:
The session focuses on the advantages of working together; sharing results, developing tools, increasing leverage and how to cater for different sizes of companies in documenting HRDD through operational-level impact assessments.

Presentation objectives: 
In this snapshot session, the Danish Restaurateur’s Guarantee Association, REGA, shares experiences on the collaboration, committing and assisting key actors within the industry to conduct and document HRDD.

Brief description of the presentation:
In this session, Sticks’n’Sushi, part of the REGA initiative, shares experiences conducting its first operational impact assessment as part of documenting HuRi through collaboration with other restaurants; and the potential for addressing systemic challenges for the industry in collaboration with peers.

Presentation objectives:
CEO Kim Rahbek presents on the influence the initiative has and the benefits it brings Sticks’n’Sushi.

Session organized by the Global Network Initiative.

Brief description of the session:
Please join the Global Network Initiative (GNI) for a discussion on "Understanding and Addressing Human Rights Impacts in the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) sector." There has been relatively little public guidance developed that is specific to the ICT-sector. The GNI Principles and Implementation Guidelines provide some guidance, and other guidance has been provided by the Institute for Human Rights and Business, as well as Business for Social Responsibility.

Key discussion questions:

• What are the key elements of HRDD in the ICT sector?
• What are the key differences between HRDD in the ICT sector and in other sectors (factories, extractives, security services, etc.)?
• What practical considerations facilitate and/or raise challenges for conducting HRDD in the ICT sector (in other words, lessons learned)?
• What concerns do users/civil society have about how HRDD in the tech sector?

Format of the session:
This session will be an open "roundtable" with the audience, facilitated by GNI's Independent Board Chair, Mark Stephens.

Brief description of the presentation:
We provide insights from the Garment Supply Chain Governance Project (www.garmentgov.de), a global coalition of academic researchers, researching the evolution of labour governance in garment value chains since the shocking collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh. We present findings based on original survey and interview data from Bangladeshi workers, factory managers and global garment brands and retailers. Our worker survey provides a unique insight into workers’ perceptions of the changes brought by the Accord and Alliance in Bangladesh. We report on improvements perceived by workers, as well as areas where they note little change. Factory managers describe a transformation of safety culture, but also serious concerns regarding the implications of the Accord and Alliance. Finally, we outline the key trends and challenges in the labour governance practices of global brands and retailers identified by our research.

Presentation objectives: 
To report on the impact of post-Rana Plaza changes on Bangladeshi garment workers, factories and global brands.

Watch live https://unog.webex.com/unog/j.php?MTID=m348204de54827ff86dddc81016b390ac
Brief description of the presentation:
April 24, 2013 will be known as the day of the deadliest garment factory accident in history. More than 1,100 people died when an eight story building in Bangladesh, Rana Plaza, collapsed. This tragedy was significant because the horrific and preventable nature of the disaster made global stakeholders realize that it could no longer be “business as usual” for the garment industry. In the aftermath, Western companies invested in two organizations designed to strictly monitor and inspect a portion of Bangladesh’s registered factories.

Presentation objectives :
This presentation will critique the strategies employed over the last five years by Western retailers focused on monitoring and compliance, while neglecting issues around the entire global supply chain, as well as propose solutions to further improve the sector and to prevent horrific tragedies like Rana Plaza from occurring in the future.

Brief description of the presentation:
The right to health, and the underlying access to medicine, is one of the obvious salient human rights in the pharmaceutical sector. However, pharmaceutical companies recognize that there are other salient human rights issues that need to be addressed when considering right-holders across the entire value chain, in their own operations and throughout their supply chains.

Presentation objectives:
This session will provide some insights into the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI) and how the member companies are collaborating to define, implement and champion responsible supply chain practices, including the respect for human rights.

Brief description of the presentation:
This snapshot presentation will discuss key elements of Samsung Electronics’ continuous journey on human rights due diligence, including practical experiences in aligning its business activities with the UN Guiding Principles.

Presentation objectives:
Samsung Electronics will share selected cases of the implementation of its commitment with regards to human rights due diligence, with examples from our global operations.

Brief presentation of the presentation:
Sakhalin Energy will present the main challenges that a large project operator encounters when introducing and implementing human rights standards across supply chain partners, as well as the practical tools from the company’s experience allowing to address these challenges.

Presentation objectives:
The session will focus on thorough bidding process, human rights inclusive contract management, trainings/awareness raising for internal/external stakeholders, tools of contractors’ monitoring and audits.

Brief description of the presentation:
UPM is committed to sustainable forest management and monitors the origin of wood to ensure it is sustainably and legally sourced. The presentation will describe human rights due diligence process in large supply base covering several sourcing categories, involving more than 25000 suppliers. It will also bring practical examples of risk assessment within chemicals sourcing.

Presentation objectives: 
The presentation will describe UPM's approach in managing human rights risk in supply chain. It will introduce a practical case on chemicals sourcing and elaborate on opportunities for further development.

Brief description of the presentation:
Outotec develops leading technologies and services for the sustainable use of Earth’s natural resources in the mining, metal, energy, and chemical industries. The presentation will provide an overview of how to manage the human rights risks in a global supply chain, focusing on the practices and challenges of a globally operating technology company.

Presentation objectives: 
The objective of the presentation is to describe the current practical ways of assessing supply chain risks and related approach adopted at Outotec. This includes finding the key assessment areas and managing the classification, assessment and audit process, and the related challenges.

Brief description of the presentation:
Neste is an important producer of renewable diesel and a refiner of high-quality oil products that enable customers to reduce their climate emissions. Neste’s approach on human rights due diligence is centered on activities to assess and identify the potential impacts on human rights of our various internal functions and business areas, including those that concerns sourcing. This is followed by actions to increase the preparedness of internal management systems to mitigate human rights risks.

Presentation objectives:
The presentation will shade light on the current activities aimed at, amongst others, improving Neste’s sourcing practices on due diligence that is strengthened with human rights criteria, coupled with capacity building and supplier engagements.

Brief description of the presentation:
The session will highlight the efforts made by the Thai Tuna Industry Association (TTIA) to turn the industry towards a human rights-based sustainable business within a short period of time.

Presentation objectives: 
The presentation will share insights from TTIA efforts of applying requirements for member companies to comply with TTIA policies, covering aspects related to food safety, sustainability and ethical labour practice. It will also address lessons from applying stakeholder engagement and third party audits approaches aimed at creating a sustainable fisheries sector in Thailand. The goal is highlight lessons learned that can be replicated and inspire others in the region and beyond.

Interpretation is provided in English and Spanish

Brief description of the presentation:
The session will showcase an effective multi-stakeholder model (i.e. the “La Máquina Model”), working against child labour and offer both a government and a rights-holder perspective. The model, which has been developed and run in close collaboration with the Government of Guatemala, the ECLT Foundation, NGO partner DNI Costa Rica, local communities and private sector partners, not only focuses on schools and job skills but also provides child labour training for key local actors, like community leaders, teachers and technicians from companies that work with farmers, for a sustainable way to address child labour gaps in agricultural supply chains and promote decent youth employment.

Presentation objectives:
Ms. Rodriguez will speak briefly on the challenges she faces accessing education in her rural community, the importance of the model for her and her fellow participants.
Ms. Ochoa will give a short overview of the work, successes and challenges of the Ministry of Labour in the Eradication of Child Labour, specifically, the advances made as a country, including the “La Maquina Model” and the importance of building a replicable model in two departments of Guatemala. The replica aims to continue promoting education, ignite economic development and reduce migration in communities living in extreme poverty in Guatemala.

 
Brief description of the session:
This session will explore how companies, governments, international NGOs, and local NGOs are working together to translate standards such as the UN Guiding Principles and Sustainable Development Goals into actual practices as they source food and beverage ingredients in complex and difficult contexts. Despite the flood of policies and initiatives that have launched, practices and procedures used to grow and fish many ingredients remain difficult to assess, and some initiative are clearly not going to meet their stated goals. The persistence of human rights violations pose distinct risks to corporations and governments and impacts on rights holders.
A variety of innovative tools and strategies are being developed to help stakeholders implement policies and commitments to the fields and oceans where the ingredients for global food and beverages are harvested and caught. This session will explore the complexities of conducting due diligence on complex and diverse supply chains in a variety of difficult contexts, investigate solutions that have worked, and review new tools that have been created.

Session Objectives:
This session will elicit a variety of strategies for governments, multinational corporations, civil society organizations, and local communities to fulfill their roles and responsibilities to “protect, respect and provide remedy” to affected populations (including migrant workers and women); to identify where current efforts are falling short; and how best to fill the remaining gaps. Special attention will be paid to the roles of human slavery, gender impacts and land rights in the global food and beverage supply chains and new tools that can be used to detect and remedy these abuses.

Key Discussion Questions

• Which corporate compliance systems and government practices have been successful and what additional mechanisms are needed to improve businesses’ obligations and countries’ enforcement with respect human rights in this sector?
• What are the relative roles of companies, governments, and civil society in meeting best standards?
• What are the emerging best practices to provide impacted communities and victims access to judicial and non-judicial remedy, including examples of meaningful, direct participation of workers and communities?
• What tools are available to help stakeholders assess human rights risks in their supply chains?
• What are the existing gaps in policy, enforcement, and services provided related to the responsible sourcing of food and beverage ingredients?

Format of the Session:
Roundtable discussion led by two moderators. Selected speakers will serve as pop-up commenters to offer their insights and guidance for no more than five minutes. Audience participation will figure prominently in the session.

Background to the Discussion:
How do you get from international standards and best practices on paper to measurable results and operable safeguards in the field? This has become the most critical question for practitioners as stakeholders try to move from the “why” of prioritizing human rights in corporate supply chains to the “how” to conduct meaningful due diligence in corporate value chains.
Many companies have launched corporate commitments and supply chain policies regarding human rights. But many are struggling to understand how to implement these policies in very diverse contexts around the globe where corporate best practices may come up against resource constraints, weak governance structures, adverse local customs, internal corporate resistance, and a variety of other potential hurdles.
This panel tackles how companies, international NGOs, and local NGOs are working together to translate standards such as the UN Guiding Principles and Sustainable Development goals into actual practices in the face of these challenges. While there are no silver bullets to circumvent the hard work of implementation in situ, companies and NGOs are learning important lessons about what it takes to turn good intentions in to concrete actions.
This roundtable discussion will focus on the food and beverage industry, where the need for corporate action has never been more acute. Global Witness’s review of 2017 killings of land and environment defenders found that the agri-business sector is now the leading sector in which killings occur, surpassing extractives. Conflicts over land and practices that bond fisherfolk and agricultural laborers to their boat captains or landholders are still prevalent in many countries despite corporate vows to end these practices.  Women often experience unique labor and land violations.
The discussion will focus on tangible practices and tools now available to help companies and stakeholders implement meaningful due diligence to detect and end such practices.

Organized by IPIECA

Short description of the session:
The session will focus the implementation of human rights due diligence in the oil and gas sector. The aim will be to discuss the challenges of human rights due diligence implementation, and the practical solutions to such challenges, in four particular areas relevant to the sector: community engagement, worker rights, responsible security, and supply chain.
It will use IPIECA’s practical guidance on this topic as a structure for the session, aligning with its four sections:

• What is a human rights due diligence process?
• Why is a human rights due diligence process important?
• Developing and implementing a human rights due diligence process
• Resources to support oil and gas companies

It will be an opportunity to generate discussion with attendees and encourage good practice sharing and examples of effective human rights due diligence.

Session objectives:
To further understanding of the good practices of companies engaging in human rights due diligence, in line with the UN Guiding Principles, in their operations, sub contracted activities and supply chains.
Raise awareness and debate some of the implementation challenges faced by the oil and gas sector in relation to human rights due diligence and brainstorm possible solutions to such challenges.
Promote the industry initiative on human rights in the supply chain recently launched at the UN Global Compact in September – a joint initiative between BP, Shell, Total & Equinor.
Use the feedback in the room as an opportunity to develop an updated version of IPIECA’s 2012 guidance on Human rights due diligence process.

Key discussion questions:

• What are the possible solutions to some of the challenges for implementing human rights due diligence measures in the areas of community engagement, worker rights, responsible security, and supply chain?
• How can we measure the effectiveness of human rights due diligence solutions?

Format of the session:
The session is designed to be as interactive as possible. It will begin with brief introductory remarks to set the context of human rights due diligence in the oil and gas sector, and IPIECA’s work to date in this area. We will highlight IPIECA’s guidance on Human rights due diligence process, as well as our current project on Company and Supply Chain Labour Rights (to be launched soon). It will also introduce the new industry initiative on human rights in the supply chain - joint initiative between BP, Shell, Total & Equinor - recently launched at the UN Global Compact in September.
Next, our four moderators will briefly highlight challenges to effective human rights due diligence for the sector related to four key areas:

• Community engagement
• Worker rights
• Responsible security
• Supply chain

We will then divide into four breakout groups, each with a moderator and an IPIECA member company representative, to discuss the topic from these perspectives. Each group will be tasked with discussing possible solutions to the challenges raised.
This will be followed by an opportunity to provide feedback in plenary, sum up overall themes and findings, and Q&A.

Background to the discussion:
IPIECA has been working on, and raising awareness of, human rights issues across the oil and gas industry for over a decade. As a consensus-based membership organization, IPIECA facilitates peer learning, provides authoritative guidance on implementation of business and human rights frameworks, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and facilitates the development, sharing and promotion of good practices for the industry. A key expectation of the UNGPs is that companies will work with their business partners, including suppliers, to set expectations and use leverage to seek improved human rights performance. As such IPIECA’s human rights programme is expanding beyond direct member human rights impacts, to examine how members can work with, and seek to influence, business partners to respect human rights.
IPIECA’s Business and Human Rights Project has included developing practical guidance on due diligence and community grievance mechanisms that have been widely used throughout the oil and gas industry.
The next phase of IPIECA’s work in this area, is focusing on respect for human rights in the supply chain, initially concentrating on the contracted workforce that the industry relies on to develop and operate its large-scale operations. This is an area of common saliency across the oil and gas industry, and one in which IPIECA members can benefit from peer learning and sharing of good practices. In the face of increasing external scrutiny of labour practices in the supply chain, IPIECA aims to inform stakeholders, of our industry’s collective commitment and efforts to respect labour rights.  It also helps member companies to anticipate emerging trends and challenges for our industry.  Most importantly the project will enable members to more effectively identify, prevent and mitigate labour rights risks and impacts within projects, operations and supply chains.  This will be achieved through the development of practical tools, supported by implementation guidance.

Interpretation is available in Korean.

Brief description of the session:
Workers around the world find themselves in the midst of a public health crisis due to their exposure to hazardous substances at work. This session will look into the electronics industry as an example of such crisis and explore ways to overcome the challenge of workers’ exposure to hazardous substances as it remains poorly addressed. Furthermore, the exposure of workers to toxic substances can and should be considered a form of exploitation. States, business actors and international organizations can eliminate or minimize exposures and must do so with urgency. This session aims to pave the way forward for the different actors involved to achieve the protection of workers from exposure to toxic chemicals.


Session objectives:

• Discuss exposure of workers to toxic substances as a form of exploitation and global multi-stakeholder challenge.
• Urge States to protect, respect and fulfill the human rights of workers, including access to effective remedies when they have been infringed by their occupational exposures to toxic and otherwise hazardous substances.
• Urge business enterprises to take their full responsibilities and implement human rights due diligence processes to prevent and address exposure of workers in the supply chain and support access to effective remedies in case of infringements.
• Discuss transparency and right to information as a key element of the way forward.

Key discussion questions:

• How to address the lack of meaningful health and safety information provided to workers?
• What does the right to information means for a worker and their representatives when it comes to preventing exposure? What is the workers right to know?
• What are industry initiatives to prevent exposure?
• How can employers make information available and accessible to workers about various facets of their actual or potential exposure to toxic chemicals?
• What should this information include as a minimum?
• What is the responsibility of the Chemicals sector to respect human rights under the UNGP?

Format of the session:
Roundtable Discussion format
Introduction remarks by the Special Rapporteur
Followed by streaming a trailer from a compelling new video about victims of chemical exposure which shows the challenges in prevention and access to remedy.
Kick-off speakers will represent different challenges and initiatives
Open discussion facilitated by moderator
Closing Remarks

Background to the discussion:
Despite clear obligations relating to the protection of workers’ health, workers around the world find themselves in the midst of a public health crisis due to their exposures to hazardous substances at work. It is estimated that one worker dies every 15 seconds from toxic exposures at work, while over 2,780,000 workers globally die from unsafe or unhealthy conditions at work each year. The electronics industry is no exception. Electronics has become one of the largest sectors in the global economy, employing tens of millions of workers. One the main challenges of the sector is that it is chemically intensive, putting these workers at serious risk of chemical exposure and toxic-related occupational illness. Over the past several decades, numerous cases have emerged of workers poisoned by toxic chemicals in the lifecycle of electronics.

Taking the electronics industry as an example, this session will focus in highlighting States’ duties and businesses’ responsibilities in protecting and respecting the rights of workers implicated by toxic occupational exposures. It will discuss the importance of worker’s right to know, and explore the relationship between due diligence and the protection of workers. Current initiatives from civil society, industry coalitions and multi-stakeholder groups will be discussed. The Special Rapporteur on toxics will outline several causes that give rise to the exploitation of workers, and offer 15 Principles to help States, businesses and other key actors ensure decent work for all. Finally, the session will urge all stakeholders to eliminate workers’ exposure and propose relevant actions.

https://goodelectronics.org/exploitation-by-deception-in-the-electronics-industry/

Watch live: https://unog.webex.com/unog/j.php?MTID=mf6b05920d7c070651dac2f7c78e53b64 


Brief description the session:
The session will bring together different stakeholders, including representatives from regional organizations, civil society, business sector and governments, to discuss the challenges of implementing effective human rights due diligence in the commodity trading sector. This discussion will also serve to identify good practice to put respect for human rights into practice and brainstorm on potential solutions for its scale-up in the commodity trading sector.
The session will also briefly discuss the process of elaborating a guidance on implementing the UNGPs in the commodity trading sector, developed by the Swiss Government.

Session objectives:

• Highlight challenges when implementing corporate human rights due diligence in commodity trading sector.
• Unpack the different parameters of the concept of human rights due diligence for the commodity trading sector.
• Identify good practices in this sector and potential solutions to address gaps.
• Present the guidance document elaborated by the concerned stakeholder group in Switzerland.

Key discussion questions:

• What are the peculiarities of commodity trading that make a specific approach necessary for undertaking human rights due diligence processes that are consistent with the UNGPs?
• In which ways does the diversity of the commodity trading sector create challenges in implementing the UNGPs?
• How should the Swiss government and other stakeholders support and ensure companies when implementing the guidance, given its legally non-binding nature?

Format of the session:
The opening presentation will offer a brief overview of the main goals, format and content of the sector guidance for commodity trading. This will be followed by a moderated conversation among industry and civil society stakeholders which have participated in drafting the guidance document. A representative from the OECD will also give his view on the guidance and its implementation. A representative of the Swiss government will underline expectations about the implementation of the UNGPs by the commodity trading sector. The moderator will then facilitate questions from participants.

Background to the discussion:
Determining the human rights impacts associated with the commodity trading sector is challenging, given for example the diversity of the sector, the complex and varied supply chains associated with specific commodities. Switzerland is one of the world’s most important commodity trading hubs. The commodity trading sector is characterized by a diverse mix of companies in terms of size, ownership, turnover and commodities traded. Questions are increasingly being raised relating to the responsibilities of trading companies on human rights, and related issues, such as corruption and environmental degradation. The Swiss Government has facilitated the creation of a multistakeholder group composed of representatives of the commodity trading sector, civil society and government. This group has supported the elaboration of the sector guidance for the commodity trading sector on implementation of the UNGPs. The guidance document is aligned with the Due Diligence Guidance elaborated by the OECD. It has been drafted by the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB).

Organized by International Tourism Partnership (ITP) and ECPAT International (ECPAT)

Short description the session:
The session will explore human rights risks and related trends in the tourism and travel sector. Session speakers will provide insights on how they engage on human rights issues, with a focus on human trafficking, forced labour and the sexual exploitation of children. The session will also focus on the value of collaboration and discuss industry-wide solutions currently implemented globally to address human rights risks.

Session objectives:

• Discuss the most salient and material human rights risks, including children’s rights risks, in the travel and tourism sector
• Discuss different approaches and common challenges to addressing human rights risks impacting the travel and tourism sector
• Highlight the industry’s focus on collaboration and specific actions to leverage and align with existing best practices in other sectors
• Explore strategies that can accelerate progress among a wider spectrum of partners in the travel and tourism sector

Key discussion questions:

•  What are the key human rights risks (including children’s rights risks) in the travel and tourism industry?
• What solutions are companies implementing to address trafficking and sexual exploitation in the context of travel and tourism? Recruitment processes can be very complicated.
• What is your company/organisation doing to better understand the risks associated with the recruitment process and create solutions, particularly in places where the only option is to work with a labour recruitment agency?
• What innovative solutions have the industry / companies developed to advance protection for human rights and specifically children’s rights in travel and tourism?

Format of the discussion:
Roundtable discussion format.

Programme:

1. Introduction (13:30 - 13:45) 
2. Solutions developed to address risks of sexual exploitation of children in the context of travel and tourism (13:45 - 14:00)
3. Solutions developed to address human rights risks in the recruitment supply chain (14:00 - 14:15)
4. Beyond risk management: scaling-up innovative solutions in Travel and Tourism (14:15 - 14:25)
5. Interactive session with audience – Scenarios (14:25 - 14:45)

Background to the discussion:
Travel and Tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors with the industry producing 1 in 10 jobs around the world. The sector involves millions of people in its activities, connecting travellers to communities, and relying on complex supply chains. As the industry expands, it endeavours to have a positive impact on human rights, including children’s rights, and to maintain practices that contribute to the UN SDGs. From air travel to hospitality, to local tourist sites management, tourism can negatively affect a vast range of human rights. This session will focus on the industry’s most material risks: human trafficking, forced labour and the sexual exploitation of children.
In recent years, a growing number of global, regional and national entities have taken innovative measures to ensure that as the travel and tourism industry grows, workers’ rights and child protection are taken into consideration. The private sector can be a key alley in preventing sexual exploitation of children and providing safe pathways to employment. The objective of this roundtable will be to present the solutions developed collectively in the sector through multistakeholder initiatives and by individual companies to inspire and foster wider collaboration with corporate and government stakeholders.

Key research and initiatives have been achieved in the tourism sector on this topic which will provide background to this discussion:

• The Global Study on the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism, that was the result of inputs from 67 global partners.
• The Call for Action from the first International Summit on Child Protection in Travel and Tourism provide a roadmap how to address this worldwide challenge while contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goals.
• The ITP Goal on human rights in the hotel industry to raise awareness of human rights risks, embed human rights into corporate governance, and address risks arising in the labour supply chain and during construction.
• The ITP Principles on Forced Labour launched at the IHRB-ILO Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment and Employment in June 2018

Brief description of the session:
This session led by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights aims to take a ‘deep dive’ on the issue of human rights due diligence in practice in the banking sector. Specifically it will provide an opportunity to highlight:

• the current state of play of how commercial banks are meeting the requirements set out in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
• how some banks are conducting human rights due diligence against specific human rights impacts with which they may be involved through lending activities
• key considerations for ensuring that the human rights due diligence concept in line with the Guiding Principles and the recent OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct is integrated in the forthcoming revision of the Equator Principles and other frameworks for responsible banking practice

Background reading:

• Working Group 2018 report on human rights due diligence in practice
• Working Group report on “economic diplomacy” that includes focus on the practice of export credit agencies
• OHCHR paper on how the UN Guiding Principles apply in the banking sector