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We are deeply saddened by the passing of John Ruggie, a seminal figure on Business and Human Rights. Our thoughts are with his family.
For more than twenty years, John was a key voice calling for responsible business and his voice will be sorely missed. From his launch of the Global Compact in the late 1990s, to the release of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) in 2011, and everything that followed, he constantly looked for ways to make companies meet their responsibilities. The UNGPs made it clear that the world expected companies to respect human rights—a far cry from years before when many companies thought they had no such responsibility.
John’s legacy will not be forgotten. As we go forward, we hope to make those expectations on companies permanent, unavoidable, and mandatory as we all try to build a more just world that ensures that the powerful cannot exploit the vulnerable and that profit cannot be an excuse for abuse.
Tribute by Jerome Bellion-Jourdan, who led negotiations for the European Union on Business and Human Rights in the UN Human Rights Council and represented the EU in several other processes on BHR/RBC from 2010 to 2019.
Tribute by Audrey Gaughran, Executive Director, and Joseph Wilde-Ramsing, Senior Researcher, on behalf of Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (SOMO)
Tribute to John Ruggie by Christine Bader, who was a member of "Team Ruggie" from 2006-11 and served as a Board Member for the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre from 2011–15
Tribute by David Schilling, Senior Program Director for Human Rights at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and Anita Dorett, Director of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights
Tribute by Bennett Freeman, who served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1999-2001 and as Senior Vice President, Sustainability Research and Policy at Calvert Investments from 2006-15
Tribute by Chris Avery, Chair of the Human Rights and Business Award Foundation & Former Director (2002-2013) of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Tribute by Irene Pietropaoli, Lise Smit, Claire Bright and Robert McCorquodale on behalf of the Business and Human Rights Team at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL)
Tribute by Douglas Elmendorf, Dean at Harvard Kennedy School, where John Ruggie was the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs
Tribute to John Ruggie by BankTrack, an international tracking, campaigning and CSO support organisation targeting commercial banks and the activities they finance.