"Business and Human Rights in Europe: Next Steps in Strengthening Implementation and Accountability", 14 Mar 2017

In March 2016, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a new Recommendation on Human Rights and Business. This Recommendation provides important guidance to governments, businesses and other stakeholders across the Council of Europe region regarding the implementation of human rights in the business context...The Council of Europe will hold a high-level seminar on the Recommendation in Strasbourg in June 2017, in the run-up to Denmark’s Presidency of the Council of Europe, commencing in November 2017. In advance of that seminar, the ‘Business and Human Rights in Europe: Next steps in strengthening implementation and accountability” workshop, organised by the Danish Institute for Human Rights with support from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, brought together stakeholders from member states of the Council of Europe comprising representatives of governments, civil society and business representatives, national human rights institutions and multilateral organisations. Specifically, the Copenhagen workshop aimed to:  Increase knowledge of the Recommendation and relevant contextual developments amongst European business and human rights stakeholders; Facilitate stakeholder dialogue on priority areas and needs to support effective implementation of the Recommendation across Council of Europe member states; Generate proposals to forward to the Council of Europe on the Recommendation, to promote a multi-stakeholder, human rights-based follow-up review process under the Recommendation.