Sustainability reporting is when businesses formally disclose information related to sustainability, including on human rights risks and impacts. As defined by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), “sustainability reporting is the practice of publicly disclosing an organization’s most significant economic, environmental and/or social impacts, and hence its contributions – positive or negative – toward the goal… Continue Reading Sustainability Reporting

A national human rights institution (NHRI) is an autonomous body established by the State, with a constitutional or legislative mandate to promote and protect human rights. NHRIs are intended to bridge the ‘protection gap’ between the rights of individuals and the duties and responsibilities of the State. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993) recommended the… Continue Reading National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs)/ Ombudspersons

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families 1990, Article 2, defines a migrant worker as “a person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.” The… Continue Reading Migrant workers

The right to remedy is a fundamental principle of international human rights law (present in all 9 of the core human rights conventions) and is integral to all other human rights. Judicial remedy is “[t]he manner in which a right is enforced or satisfied by a court when some harm or injury, recognised by society as a… Continue Reading Judicial remedy

    International investment rulemaking takes place at bilateral, regional, interregional and multilateral levels, with over 2500 treaties in force as of April 2024, including treaties with investment provisions. Investment treaties can take a variety of forms and include, for example, bilateral investment treaties (BIT), which are agreements made betw een two States establishing the terms and… Continue Reading Investment treaties & investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS)

The assessment of human rights impacts of business activities is a key component of the corporate responsibility to respect, and human rights due diligence, as outlined in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). A human rights impact assessment (HRIA) is a context specific process for identifying, understanding, assessing and addressing the… Continue Reading Human rights impact assessments

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) provide that in order to address their adverse impacts on human rights, businesses should undertake human rights due diligence which includes “assessing actual and potential human rights impacts, integrating and acting upon the findings, tracking responses, and communicating how impacts are addressed” (Guiding Principle 17).… Continue Reading Mandatory human rights due diligence

Businesses are integral to the business and human rights discourse, but they will sometimes lack human rights experts within their workforce. Providing guidance to business is a good way to educate shareholders, management, and staff on human rights issues relevant to their business. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), detail in… Continue Reading Guidance to business

Equality and non-discrimination are fundamental human rights, as enshrined within several key human rights instruments; everyone should be treated equally, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. Achieving gender justice requires ensuring equal rights and non-discrimination, equal access to resources and equal representation and opportunities for all, regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.… Continue Reading Gender & women’s rights

Freedom of association is crucial to the functioning of a democracy and is an essential condition for the exercise of other human rights. In the human rights and business context, freedom of association is most frequently understood as the right of workers “to join organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation” (ILO Convention 87),… Continue Reading Freedom of association

Slavery and forced labour are prohibited under a range of international treaties and conventions. Since 1981, slavery has been prohibited by all individual States. However, slavery and forced labour remain prevalent; the 2021 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery highlighted that on any given day, 49.6 million people are in modern slavery, including 27.6 million people in forced labour… Continue Reading Forced labour & modern slavery

  Extraterritorial jurisdiction is the situation when a State extends its legal power beyond its territorial boundaries. Examples include where a State maintains jurisdiction over its citizens when they are overseas and where certain criminal offences can be prosecuted in a State regardless of where they were committed (e.g. piracy and child sex offences). Extraterritorial jurisdiction… Continue Reading Extraterritorial jurisdiction

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) notes that ‘export credit’ is an insurance, guarantee or financing arrangement which enables a foreign buyer of exported goods and/or services to defer payment over a period of time. Export credits are generally divided into short-term, medium-term (usually two to five years repayment) and long-term (usually over five years).… Continue Reading Export credit

    Corruption is generally acknowledged as being the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Although there is no universal definition of corruption, the United Nations Convention against Corruption 2005 highlights various forms of corruption, such as trading in influence, abuse of functions and private sector corruption, which can range from the minor use of… Continue Reading Corruption

The State’s responsibility to foster a corporate culture respectful of human rights both at home and abroad is a key element of the first pillar of the State duty to protect human rights as articulated in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Corporate law focuses on the rules for forming and operating corporations.… Continue Reading Corporate law & corporate governance

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) recognise that business activities in conflict-affected and high-risk areas increase the risks of enterprises fuelling conflict and being complicit in gross human rights abuses committed by other actors. The Guiding Principle 7 highlights the importance of supporting business respect for human rights in conflict-affected areas.… Continue Reading Conflict-affected areas

Human Rights defender (HRD) is a term used to describe “people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights in a peaceful manner”, as defined by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders. A human rights defender can be, for example, an individual such as a journalist, worker, lawyer, activist,… Continue Reading Human rights defenders & Civic space

In line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) as well as the International Labour Organization (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182),  and the ILO Minimum Age Convention (No. 138), “a child is a person below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained… Continue Reading Children’s rights