The 16th of June 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Their unanimous endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council was a landmark moment for efforts to promote corporate respect for human rights and sustainable business.

This 10-year anniversary is an important milestone, but there is much more at stake in the current global environment which makes today a real inflection point for the future we want: the climate and environmental crises, combined with other major global challenges, such as shrinking civic space, populism, corruption, conflict and fragility, and yet unknown human consequences of technological developments. The socio-economic crisis resulting from COVID-19 has further laid bare and amplified gross existing inequalities and injustices, including pervasive gender and racial discrimination.

Responsible business must be at the core of the responses to these challenges. The UNGPs’ three pillars tell us what is needed in practice: States must protect human rights, business should respect human rights, and victims need access to effective remedy. The UNGPs provide the authoritative framework and a key tool for States and businesses to avoid reverting to business as usual, but to forge a new and better normal that prioritizes respect for people and the environment – supported by other stakeholders and inclusive multilateralism.

Against this backdrop, and as part of its mandate to promote the UNGPs, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights has been undertaking a project (UNGPs 10+) to take advantage of the 10th anniversary to take stock of UNGPs implementation to date and chart a course for action in the decade ahead. This report by the Working Group takes stock of the first ten years of UNGPs implementation by States and business.