Effective regulation for human rights in business is essential to better protect workers and their communities around the world. The United Nations (UN) have led the charge, most markedly with the development of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which are a set of guidelines for States and companies to prevent, address and remedy human rights abuses committed in business operations, published in 2011. To support implementation of the UNGPs, the UN Human Rights Council established a "working group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises", commonly referred to as the Working Group on business & human rights, "consisting of five independent experts...for a period of three years".  The Working Group's mandate was renewed in 2014, 2017 and 2020.

In 2014 they followed up on this when the UN Human Rights Council took steps to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises. An open-ended intergovernmental working group (IGWG), chaired by Ecuador, was established and gathered most recently in October 2022 to discuss the Third Revised Draft of the Binding Treaty.

Under the UNGPs companies have a responsibility to undertake human rights due diligence. There is growing momentum worldwide among governments, particularly in Europe, to require companies to undertake human rights and environmental due diligence, from the French Duty of Vigilance Law and the adoption in 2021 of new laws in Germany and Norway to the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Major investors and companies are also speaking out in favour of such legislation.