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Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are defined as non-subsidiary, independent firms which employ less than a given number of employees. This number varies between countries, with the most frequent upper limit being 250 employees, as in the European Union. However, some countries set the limit at 200 employees, while the United States uses 500 employees. Small firms are…

Public procurement refers to the process by which public authorities, such as government departments or local authorities, purchase work, goods or services from suppliers. The scope of goods and services bought by public authorities ranges widely, from large-scale infrastructure and urban development projects, to the acquisition of complex items such as weapon systems, to commissioning of essential…

Policy Coherence is defined by the OECD as the systematic promotion of mutually reinforcing policy actions across government departments and agencies creating synergies towards achieving the agreed objectives. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Principles 8-10) recognise policy coherence as fundamental to efforts to ensure business respect for human rights, which includes. States should: ensure policy…

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECD Guidelines) are a set of recommendations addressed by states adhering to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises to multinational enterprises operating in or from these States. Since the 2000 revision (the latest revision was in 2023), the OECD Guidelines mandate that adhering governments set up…

  Grievance mechanism are defined by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) as “any routinized, State-based or non-State-based, judicial or non-judicial process through which grievances concerning business-related human rights abuse can be raised and remedy can be sought.” Commentary to Guiding Principle 25 notes that state based judicial or non-judicial grievance mechanism (NJGM) should form…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 between two States establishing the terms and conditions for private…

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…

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)….

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…

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….

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),…

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…

  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…