Businesses are increasingly being called upon to raise human rights concerns with the governments of countries in which they operate, most often by local or international civil society organisations. Businesses leaders may wonder whether and how they might address such human rights concerns, as an increasing number of companies accept the business case for integrating human rights into their core operations and into their engagement with stakeholders, including with governments. This Good Practice Note aims to bring greater clarity to this sensitive topic and provides an initial orientation to an under-explored, but increasingly pressing topic in responsible business practice.

The right of indigenous peoples to give or withhold free, prior, and informed consent (“FPIC”) for the use of their lands, resources, traditional knowledge, or intellectual property is among the special protections for indigenous peoples. This Good Practice Note provides background on the history of FPIC, without taking a definitive viewpoint on its legal status. The Note also explores the business case for obtaining FPIC and the challenges that are likely to arise in the process; outlines current company good practices to obtain FPIC; and discusses emerging practices that not only support FPIC but also long-term benefits for affected indigenous communities.

This Tool is designed to enhance the capabilities of companies in managing human rights issues and impacts in their business operations through providing awareness training on human rights issues relevant to employees, suppliers/contractors, provision of security, and community engagement.

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre draws attention to the human rights impacts (positive & negative) of over 5100 companies, operating in over 180 countries. The resource centre provides guidance materials and examples of good practice.

The issue of taxation is steadily rising on the corporate sustainability agenda. Taxes are one of the main sources of revenue for governments. They are crucial to enable governments to deliver key services to their constituents such as health, education, housing and infrastructure. While tax legislation and enforcement are government responsibilities, companies, as tax payers, also have an important role to play to meet their own human rights responsibilities and to comply with the law. Jointly hosted by the UN Global Compact and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, this webinar provided a briefing on the link between tax and human rights, the challenges associated and new resources that have been developed for governments, investors, businesses and NGOs on emerging best practices related to tax and human rights. The webinar featured presentations from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, NEI Investments/PRI Taskforce on Corporate Tax Responsibility, and ActionAid.

A diagnostic tool designed to promote corporate social responsibility by providing companies with information about how to avoid human rights violations in all aspects of their operations.

This publication builds on the Protect, Respect and Remedy framework of the UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights (SRSG) and is intended to help companies implement a commitment to respect human rights in line with the framework of the SRSG.

Internationally-accepted frameworks now exist that define the responsibility of all companies with respect to human rights. This also extends to investors, who increasingly are looking to integrate human rights effectively and consistently into investment decision–making and corporate engagement. The webinar focuses on a new report, Investing the Rights Way: A Guide for Investors on Business and Human Rights, which aims to assist investors in evaluating human rights–related issues across their portfolios.

Decent Work cannot exist where modern slavery and child labour persist. Forced labour, modern slavery and child labour are complex problems associated with poverty, governance failures and inequalities in the global labour market. Tackling them requires a massive international effort, involving Governments, businesses, civil society organizations, trade unions and international bodies. This brief guide, developed as part of the Decent Work in Global Supply Chains Action Platform, offers a quick overview of the steps businesses can take to help eliminate modern slavery, while highlighting key resources, initiatives and engagement opportunities to support business action.

Web-based modules integrate exercises and case studies on current trends and expectations towards business on implementation of human rights principles, as reflected in the UN Protect-Respect-Remedy Framework.

The Standards outlined in the document are intended to provide a set of benchmarks for assessing the role of business in tackling discrimination and related human rights abuses affecting LGBTI people, and to support good practice by companies.

The WEPs video, Equality Means Business, features compelling business leaders and others from around the world who make the case for implementing the 7 Principles and the importance of realizing gender equality. Share the WEPs Video with your network or screen either the short (2.46 min) or long version (5.46 min) below.