Localizing Business and Human Rights in the Pacific: Building Bottom-Up Solutions to Protect People and the Planet

Background Across the Pacific, communities are navigating profound disruptions and transitions — driven by climate change, mobility, shifting labour markets, digitalisation, debt burdens, and growing foreign investment in key sectors like tourism, extractives, and construction. These transitions carry serious human rights risks, particularly for those already in vulnerable situations. Children, women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, and other marginalised groups often bear the brunt of these changes, facing disproportionate impacts and limited access to decision-making spaces.

At the same time, environmental human rights defenders and climate activists across the region increasingly operate in constrained civic spaces, with limited protection and recognition. Yet, amid these challenges lie opportunities for regionally led, rights-based solutions that prioritise inclusion, resilience, and participation — helping to shape a more just and sustainable future for all Pacific peoples.

While many Pacific stakeholders are increasingly engaging with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and relevant ILO conventions and declarations, implementing these international standards in the local context remains a challenge.

What does implementation look like on an outer island, or within an under-resourced national institution, or for a small local business? How can Pacific countries implement the UNGPs individually and collectively? What entry points do existing Pacific policy commitments such as the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and the people-centered development offer in promoting business respect for human rights? More importantly, how can Pacific actors ensure that their experiences connect with and influence global business and human rights conversations?

Building on the outcomes of the 2024 UN Pacific Forum and looking ahead at the 14th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva (24-26 November 2025), this year's Pacific Forum will focus on what it takes to “localize” the business and human rights agenda in the Pacific, sustain regional coordination, and amplify Pacific voices in global spaces.