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John Ruggie will be remembered in history as the remarkable change-maker who made the breakthrough in establishing the global framework through which businesses could apply and be held accountable for respecting human rights. Personally, I am proud to call him a friend, partner and a mentor. It is with unspeakable sadness that I heard of his passing. As a generation and as a movement, I am simply one of huge numbers of people around the world, with whom it was a privilege to work, to learn and to be inspired by John. As a politician, I once said to him that he was a better politician than me. As an economist, he was the best of human rights lawyers. As someone who strode the United Nations with great humility and a fine sense of humour, he was quite simply a wonderful human being. John’s legacy isn’t just in fond memories, but in doing something which has changed the world for good.
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.