Project overview
June 2021 marks the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights (UNGPs) by the UN Human Rights Council. To mark this occasion, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights launched a new project to further drive and scale up implementation of the UNGPs more widely over the next 10 years. The project has two main components:
- Take stock of the first ten years of UNGPs implementation. This includes assessing progress, gaps, and challenges, as well as obstacles and opportunities for advancing more robust policy action and change in the coming years. This analysis will be presented in a “stocktaking” report to the Human Rights Council on 28 June. Recognizing the important role of the financial sector as a driver for faster UNGPs implementation, the general stocktaking report is accompanied by an addendum report focused on uptake by and recommendations for institutional investors and others in the investment community.
- The stocktaking will be followed by a “roadmap for the next decade”, with forward-looking recommendations for State actors and businesses, as well as other actors who have a role to play in promoting implementation of the UNGPs. This roadmap will be launched in the second half of 2021.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic only reinforces the pertinence of the standards and forward-looking vision embodied in the UNGPs, of a more resilient global economy that leaves no one behind. This portal will collect key material and updates about the UNGPs10+ project.
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This 10-year anniversary is an important milestone but there is much more at stake in our current environment which makes today a real inflection point for the future we want.Anita Ramasastry & Dante Pesce, UN Working Group on Business & Human Rights
10th anniversary of the UNGPs
To mark the 10th anniversary, the Working Group collected video statements from civil society, businesses, government & UN leaders reflecting on progress to date and the road ahead.
Focus Areas
The UNGPs10+ project is looking at drivers and opportunities for speeding and scaling up implementation of the UNGPs, including:
Mandatory Due Diligence
Effective legal drivers are critical to creating large-scale changes in business practices. The current momentum among governments worldwide to require human rights due diligence from companies is a key opportunity to advance business respect for human rights.
Financial Sector Actors
The role of financial actors and rise in ESG investing is a significant leverage point for driving corporate respect for human rights. The UNGPs10+ project is carrying out research and consultation in the areas of development finance and institutional investment.
Applying the UNGPs to COVID-19 Responses
Canva
The UNGPs are more relevant than ever. It is critical that they are applied when responding to COVID-19 and building a better future.
Thematic Work
UNGPs10+
For other thematic work of the UN Working Group, which will help inform the UNGPs10+ work further, see the official project page.
To remain powerful, the UNGPs will need to demonstrate they can contribute to system-wide solutions to [current] challenges.Phil Bloomer & Mauricio Lazala, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Featured contents
UNGPs at 10: taking stock of the first decade
The Working Group’s stocktaking report
Virtual launch UNGPs 10+ stocktaking report on institutional investment
Summary discussion of the virtual launch of the Working Group’s report on 17 June
A Roadmap for Responsible Recovery in Times of Economic Crisis
Information Note by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Working Group statements
Statements delivered by members of the UN Working Group at various global events
A vision for the next decade of business and human rights
The UNGPs have contributed to significant achievements, but much more is needed to realize their vision, write Anita Ramasastry and Dante Pesce, as they look to the path ahead on business and human rights.
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights at 10 – A vision for the future
The UNGPs10+ agenda must be used to create a New Social Contract and Green New Deals to deliver greater shared prosperity and security in the next decade, write Phil Bloomer and Mauricio Lazala.
Input to the UNGPs10+ project
Find below selected submissions, thematic issue papers and information on input collected during consultations on the future of the UNGPs. All written input from stakeholders incl. CSOs, trade unions, MSIs, business, governments, national human rights institutions & academics, as well as input collected during the 2020 UN Forum, can be found here.
The Impact of the UNGPs on Courts and Judicial Mechanisms
Read the report by Debevoise and Plimpton here.
Consultations with civil society organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean
The UNWG partnered with BHRRC and OHCHR to organise consultations with CSOs in Latin America and the Caribbean on the future of the UNGPs. Three consultations were held - with orgs from Mexico and Central America; with orgs from Brazil; and with orgs from South America, except Brazil.
Gender dimensions of business and human rights
Read the summary report of the consultation in support of UNGPs10+, prepared by DIHR, GBI, WRAW Asia Pacific & RMIT University Business & Human Rights Centre here.
African Coalition for Corporate Accountability input to UNGPs10+ project
Read ACCA's submission here.
Intl Working Group for Indigenous Affairs input to UNGPs10+ project
Read IWGIA's submission here, taking stock of impacts affecting indigenous peoples & recommendations for the coming decade.
Civil Society Focal Group on BHR in Mexico input to UNGPs10+ project
Read the submission by the Focal Group, of which the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre is a part, here.
Watch the launch event
On 7 July 2020, the UN Working Group launched the UNGPs10+ project at a virtual global event supported by the German Government.
47th Session of the Human Rights Council
Read the Working Group's full statement at the presentation of their stocktaking report & Chair Dante Pesce's contribution to a panel discussion on the tenth anniversary of the UNGPs at the 47th Session of the Human Rights Council.
