2022 Africa Forum on Business and Human Rights

Session organized by UNDP and the Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Brief description of the session 

As part of its mandate to promote the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (UNWG) launched a project in 2018 to clarify the practical steps that States and business enterprises should take to implement the UNGPs in conflict and post-conflict contexts to prevent and address business-related human rights abuses.  In its report to the UN General Assembly, the UNWG identified and clarified a range of policies and tools that States, alone or when acting as members of multilateral organizations, and businesses, could employ in conflict-affected regions to help ensure that business activity does not lead to human rights abuses and in turn stimulate or exacerbate conflict or negatively impact peacebuilding.
Building on that report, the Working Group and UNDP recently released guidance titled “Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts: A Guide” on what a heightened version of human rights due diligence would look like in different contexts, what triggers it and when it should be carried out, and what steps companies should take to carry out heightened human rights due diligence.
 
Key objectives of the session 
This session will aim:

• To discuss how to move from guidance to action: challenges and opportunities.
• To raise awareness of the respective duty and responsibility of States and business to take heightened action to prevent and address business-related abuses in conflict-affected context.
• To provide a better understanding of the practical measures that all actors should take in conflict-affected settings, including by unpacking the concept of heightened human rights due diligence and its practical implementation.
• To generate discussion on follow-up initiatives needed to advance this critical topic and to implement the relevant aspects of the roadmap for global implementation of the UN Guiding Principles for the next decade at the regional level.

To discuss the specific challenges rights-holders face conflict-affected settings, including the key issues of access to remedy.

Key questions 

• What next for this field? how to move from guidance to action?
• What specific challenges do businesses face in conducting heightened human rights due diligence in conflict-affected settings?
• What should States do to scale up action to protect against business-related human rights abuses in conflict settings?
• What lessons learned from the region that could serve as positive examples of responsible business conduct in conflict and post-conflict settings ?
• What is now required to integrate business and human rights into peace and security frameworks?